s 

University  of  California  •  Berkeley 
Gift  of 


DR.    HENRY  B.    BRUYN 


I 


. 


THE 

YOUTH'S  COMPANION, 

OR    AN 

Historical  Dictionary ; 

CONSISTING  OF 
ARTICLES    CHIEFLY    SELECTED    FROM 

NATURAL    AND    CIVIL    HISTORY,    GEOGRAPHY, 
ASTRONOMY,  ZOOLOGY,  BOTANY, 
AND  MINERALOGY ; 

ARRANGED  IN  ALPHABETICAL  ORDER. 


BY  EZRA  SAMPSON, 

Author  of  the  Selection,  entitled  "  Beauties  of  the  Bible." 


THIRD    EDITION. 


HUDSON  : 

PRINTED    FOR   NATHAN   ELLIOTT,    OF  CATSKILL,  ANB 
WEBSTERS    AND    SKINNERS,    OF    ALBANY, 

Joint  Proprietors  of  the  Copy-Right. 

WILLIAM  L.   STONE,    AND    RICHARD   COR8S,   PRINTERS* 


1816. 


DISTRICT  OF  NEW  YORK,  ss. 

BE  IT  REMEMBERED,  That  on  the  Twenty-Fifth  Day  of 
November,  in  the  Thirty-Third  Year  of  the  Indepen- 
dence of  the  United  States  of  America,  EZRA  SAMPSON, 
of  the  said  District,  hath  deposited  in  this  Office,  the  title  of 
a  book,  the  Right  whereof  he  claims  as  Author,  in  the  words 
following,  to  wit : 

'*  The  youth's  Companion,  or  an  Historical  Dictionary  : 
consisting  of  articles  selected  chiefly  from  Natural  and 
Civil  History,  Geography,  Astronomy,  Zoology,  Botany 
and  Mineralogy,  arranged  in  alphabetical  order.  By  EZRA 
SAMPSON,  author  of  the  selection,  entitled  "  Beauties  of 
the  Bible." 

In  conformity  to  the  Act  of  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States,  entitled  "  An  Act  for  the  Encouragement  of  Learn- 
ing, by  securing  the  Copies  of  Maps,  Charts,  and  Books,  to 
the  Authors  and  Proprietors  of  such  copies,  during  the  times 
therein  meationed,"  and  also  to  an  Act  entitled  "  An  act 
supplementary  to  an  Act  for  the  Encouragement  of  Learn- 
ing,  by  securing  the  Copies  of  Maps,  Charts,  and  Books,  to 
the  Authors  and  Proprietors  of  such  Copies,  during  the 
Times  therein  mentioned,  and  extending  the  Benefits  there- 
of to  the  Arts  of  Designing,  Engraving,  and  Etching  Histori- 
cal and  other  Prints." 

EDWARD  DUNSCOMB, 
Clerk  of  the  District  of  New  York, 


RECOMMENDATIONS  OF  THE  WORK. 

The  Rev.  DAY  ID  PORTER,  D.  D.  of  Catskill,  has  favored  ul 
with  his  opinion,  as  follows  : 

**  I  have  examined  the  Historical  Dictionary  with  softie 
care,  and  think  it  contains  as  rich  a  compendium  of  facts, 
concisely  and  elegantly  expressed,  as  any  work  of  its  size, 
within  the  compass  of  my  knowledge.  It  is  a  book  in  my 
opinion  admirably  adapted  to  youth  ;  and  such  is  its  real 
merit,  that  I  am  convinced  that  it  needs  only  to  be  known  to 
entitle  it  to  the  universal  patronage  of  schools  and  academies 
throughout  our  country. 

•*  The  book  contains  an  epitome  of  science,  chaste,  moral, 
and  beautifully  descriptive  ;  and  it  cannot  fail  both  to  enter- 
tain and  instruct.  DAVID  PORTER." 


The  Rev.  JOHN  CHESTER,  of  Hudson,  transmits  to  us  the 
following  remarks  ; 

••  The  Historical  Dictionary,  in  the  opinion  of  the  subscri- 
ber, is  a  most  important  and  valuable  acquisition  to  the 
schools  of  our  country.  Its  learned  and  judicious  author  has 
manifested  uncommon  discrimination  and  ability  in  his  work. 
The  Dictionary  is  extremely  interesting  and  instructive  to 
the  scholar,  who,  as  he  learns  to  read,  stores  his  mind  with 
facts  which  are  always  useful.  It  is  a  kind  of  TEXT  BOOK,  the 
usefulness  of  which  out-lives  the  period  of  pupilage,  and  may 
be'retained  with  advantage  among  the  number  of  those  works 
which  will  always  amuse  and  instruct  the  person  of  mature 
age.  It  is,  in  my  opinion,  one  of  the  best  school  books  with 
which  I  am  acquainted,  and  has  a  fair  claim  to  esteem  and 
patronage.  JOHN  CHESTER." 

Mr.  ASHBEL  STRONG,  well  known  for  many  years  as  an  in- 
structor in  several  academies  in  this  state,  and  who  has  had 
the  best  opportunity  of  becoming  acquainted! with  the  merits 
of  this  book,  has  favoured  us  with  his  remarks  : 

"  Sampson's  Historical  Dictionary  is,  in  my  opinion,  one  of 
the  best  school  books  ever  published.  It  contains  in  the 
compass  of  a  few  hundred  pages  a  great  variety  of  important 
historical,  geographical,  and  philosophical  facts,  arranged  in 
alphabetical  order,  and  expressed  in  a  neat,  concise,  and  per- 
spicuous manner.  The  book  is  well  adapted  to  the  capaci- 
ties of  youth,  and  extremely  well  suited  to  engage  their  at- 
tention, I  have  kept  it  in  constant  use  among  my  pupils 
ever  since  its  first  publication,  and  think  it  needs  only  to  be 
generally  known,  to  gain  the  fullest  credit  and  currency  in 
our  academies  and  schools.  ASHBEL  STRONG." 


The  following  remarks  on  the  Historical  Dictionary  were 
made  by  the  learned  SAMUEL  WILLIAMS,  LL,  D.  author  of 
the  History  of  Vermont,  in  a  letter  to  a  friend—"  I  thank 


RECOMMENDATION  S. 

you  cordially  for  the  Historical  Dictionary  and  must  request  you 
to  tender  my  thanks  and  best  regards  to  its  author.  The  work 
is  so  well  adapted,  although  on  a  novel  plan,  that  I  feel  myself 
bound  to  acknowledge  how  much  I  am  indebted  for  the  acqui- 
sition. Already  have  my  sons  with  their  classes  gone  eagerly 
through  it  two  or  three  times.  I  shall  take  a  great  de^al  of 
pleasure  in  introducing  it  among  my  friends,  and  do  most  de- 
voutly hope  it  may  become  extensively  known.  Asa  little  com- 
pend  of  useful  knowledge  in  Natural  History,  I  regard  it  as 
the  best  work  of  the  size  that  I  have  ever  seen  in  our  lan- 
guage. The  references  to  authorities  from  which  this  valuable 
miniature  is  drawn,  will  be  found  very  serviceable." 

The  Rev.  TIMOTHY  CLOWES,  Minister  of  the  Episcopal  Church 
in  the  city  of  Albany,  has  politely  furnished  us  with  the  fol- 
lowing recommendation : 

Albany,  May  24,  1813. 
Messrs.  WEBSTERS  &  SKINNERS, 

At  your  request  I  have  examined  Mr.  Sampson's  Historical 
Dictionary,  and  have  no  hesitation  in  stating  it  as  my  opinion, 
that  the  plan  and  execution  of  the  "work  are  alike  excellent. 
Compilations  of  this  kind  are  of  more  use  than  is  generally  ima- 
gined.— The  young  and  the  ignorant  need  them  ;  the  better 
informed  have  frequent  occasion  to  be  reminded  of  what  they 
formerly  learned.  Much  is  contained  in  this  book  which  every 
child  ought  to  know,  and  with  ^hich  he  has  few  opportunities 
of  being  acquainted  in  the  course  of  a  common  school  educa- 
tion. What  is  here  comprised  will  have  a  beneficial  tendency 
to  excite  curiosity  in  youth,  and  direct  their  attention  to  works 
of  more  established  credit  and  greater  pretensions.  Were  it 
to  be  introduced  into  schools  as  a  class  book,  it  would  advance 
the  pupils  in  the  art  of  reading  as  rapidly  as  any  other,  while  at 
the  same  time  it  would  impart  to  their  minds  a  store  of  useful 
and  interesting  knowledge. 

Yours,  TIMOTHY  CLOWES. 

Mr.  ROBERT  O.  K.  BENNETT,  whose  reputation  as  a  public 
Teacher  of  youth  in  the  city  of  Albany,  for  many  years,  is  of 
the  first  standing,  has  communicated  to  us  his  opinion,  in 
the  following  note  : 

Albany,  May  27,  1813. 
Messrs.  WEBSTERS  &,  SKINNERS, 

I  have  no  hesitation  in  saying,  that  I  wholly  agree  in  the 
preceding- recommendations  of  the  "Historical  Dictionary." 
Perhaps  there  is  not  extant  any  other  book  which  contains  so 
many  useful  facts,  and  such  a  fund  of  useful  information,  in  so 
small  a  compass.  No  fewer  than  eight  hundred  and  fifty  arti- 
cles, of  primary  importance,  are  comprised  in  this  small  v»lume. 
1  am  heartily  rejoiced  that  a  discerning  public  has  demanded 
a  second  edition,  and  those  who  have  undertaken  to  supply  that 
demand  have  my  best  wishes  for  their  success. 

Yours,  R.  Q.  K.  BENNETT. 


PREFATORY  REMARKS. 


ANY  readers  of  this  book,  who  can  find  little  or  nothing 
in  it  but  what  they  knew  as  well  before,  are  respectfully  in* 
formed  that  it  is  not  meant  for  them,  but  for  people  whose 
advantages  have  been  fewer,  or  whose  knowledge  is  less  ex- 
tensive. It  is  designed,  more  particularly  as  a  Companion 
for  Youth  ;  yet  so  as  not  to  be  a  useless  companion  for  ma- 
ture age.  Much  in  a  small  compass,  has  been  my  aim  :  and 
as  I  have  generally  named  the  authors  to  whom  I  am  indebt- 
ed, so  the  reader  will  know  to  whose  writings  he  may  have 
recourse  for  a  more  enlarged  view  of  some  of  the  subjects 
which  are  here  given  in  compendium. 

Among  the  Geographical  articles,  many  places  are  men- 
tioned for  the  sake  of  relating  some  historical  facts  connect- 
ed with  them  ;  while  other  places  of  much  more  importance 
have  been  unnoticed.  The  articles  on  Astronomy  are  de- 
rived from  respectable  authorities  :  they  can  hardly  fail  to 
excite  in  the  mind  of  the  reader,  some  ideas  of  the  astonish*- 
ing  power  and  wisdom  of  the  Creator,  Many  particulars  in 
this  compilation  are  on  the  subjects  of  Zoology  and  Botany  . 
the  study  of  these  sciences  is  both  useful  and  delightful,  and 
is  recommended  by  the  example  of  Solomon,  who  "  spake  of 
trees,  from  the  cedar  tree  that  was  in  Lebanon,  even  unto  the 
hyssop  that  springeth  out  of  the  wall;  and  spake  also  Of 
beasts  and  of  fowls,  and  of  creeping  things,  and  of  fishes.'' 
As  a  knowledge  of  the  history  of  animals,  and  of  plants  or 
vegetables,  conduces  to  human  safety,  convenience,  and  sus- 
tenance, so  it  tends  also  to  improve  and  exalt  the  moral  sen- 
timent ;  forasmuch  as  the  workmanship  displayed  in  the 
structure  of  the  meanest  animal  that  breathes,  or  even  of  the 
most  unregarded  vegetable  that  grows,  infinitely  surpasses 

all  the  works  of  men. 

A2 


PREFATORY  REMARKS. 

A  multitude  of  things  which  are  here  related  or  described, 
as  they  point  directly  to  a  superintending  power  and  all-wise 
contrivance,  might  be  used  as  subjects  for  moral  and  religious 
reflections,  such  reflections,  being  obvious  and  easy,  I  have 
generally  left  to  be  made  by  the  reader.  If  this,  however 
should  be  thought  by  some  serious  and  good  minds  to  be  a 
culpable  omission,  I  might  plead  the  example  of  the  Sacred 
Historians,  who  briefly  recorded  facts  involving  most  import* 
ant  moral  principles,  and  left  them  without  comment. 

I  have  endeavoured  to  weave  into  this  work,  various  traits 
ef  the  human  character ;  insomuch,  that  besides  numerous 
sketches  of  the  history  of  man  in  civilized  societies,  it  de- 
scribes, though  with  the  utmost  brevity,  a  greater  number 
of  savage  tribes,  particularly  of  America  and  the  islands  of 
the  Pacific  Ocean,  than  can  easily  be  found  described  in  any 
other  book  of  an  equal  size.  It  was  found  necessary  to  reject 
a  considerable  number  of  articles  which  were  prepared  for 
this  book,  lest  it  should  exceed  the  intended  bounds  ;  and* 
perhaps,  for  want  of  a  more  correct  judgment,  some  of  this 
discarded  class  may  be  better  than  some  which  have  been 
admitted.  But  though  I  may  have  erred  in  judgment,  I  have 
not  been  sparing  of  my  best  endeavours ;  the  fruits  of  which 
are  offered  to  the  public,  not  without  diffidence,  nor  yet  wiib* 
tut  hope. 


TABLE  OF  THE  CONTENTS; 

Of  which  the  Articles  may  be  found  in  their  Alpha- 
betical Places. 


A. 

Abyssinia 

Acapulco 

^Acorn 

Adder 

Africa 

African 
pent 

Agouti 

Air 

Ajacio 

Aleppo 

Algiers 

Allegany 

Alligator 

Alps 

Amazon 

Amazonia 

America 

Ammon 

Amsterdam 

Ancient  Em- 
pires 

Andes 

Angora  Goat 

Animalcules 

Anjou   Cab- 
bage 

Ant 

Anthony's 
Falls 

Antelope 

Antimony 


Antioch 

Antipodes 

Antwerp 

Ape 

Apis 

Apple  Tree 


Baia 

Baidares 

Balbec 

Baloon 

Baltic 

Bambarra 


Ser-  Apollo's  Sta-  Bamboo 


tue 
Arabia 
Arbela 


Banana  Tree 
Banian  Tree 
Baniserile 


Archipelago   Barbadoes 
Areopagus      Barbary 
ArgaPs  Laws  Barein 


Argati 
Arietoes 


Barillha 

Barley 

Bartholo- 
mews 

Bastinado 

Batavia 

Baton 

Bavarian  Sol 
diets 

Bay 

Bear 


Armadad 

Artillery 

Ash 

Asia 

Asp 

Asphaltites 

Asphodel 

Athens 

Atlas 

Aurora  Bore-  Beauty 

alis  Beaver 

Ava  Beet 

B.          Bell 
BaaPs  Tern-  Bengal 

pie  Bermudas 

Baboon 
Babylon 
Bagdad          Berwick 


Berring's 
Strait 


Betel 

Bezoar  Stone 

Birch  Tree 

Bird  men 

Birds 

Bison 

Birming- 
ham 

Bittern 

Bitumen 

Black 

Black  Oak 

Blood  Hound 

Boa 

Boiling 

Bonzes 

Braganza 

Brain 

Brass 

Brazil 

-Bread  Tree 

Bridgwater's 
Canal 

Britain 

Brunswick 

Buccaniers 

Buffalo 

Bull  Baiting 

Bull  Dog 

Bullet 

Butterfly 

Butternut 
Tree 


CONTENTS. 


C.  Celebes          Complexion 

Cabro  Di  Ca-  CelestialBird  Congo 


pelio 

Bacao  Tree 
Cairo 
Calcutta 
Calendar 
California 
Calumet 
Camel 
Cameleon 


Celestial 
Frame 
Ceres 
Ceylon 
Choctaws 
Chaimois 

Goat 

Chairabes 
Champlain 


Connecticut 
Connecticut 

River 
Constance 


Denmark 
Dew 
Diamond 
Diana 

Diana's  Tem- 
ple 


Constantino-  Dionea 


Cherokees 


Cameleopard  Charcoal 

Camphjre       Chariot 
Tree 

Canada 

Canada  In- 
dians 

Canal 


pie 

Contour 
Copper 
Copperhead 
Copts 
Corlear 
Cormorant 


Dismal 
Swamp 

Diving  Bell 

Domingo  St. 

Druids 

Dutch  Fish- 
ery 


Cherry  Tree  Cotton  Shrub  E. 


Chesnut  Tree  Coupee  Eagle ! 

Chili  Couquar  Earth 

China  Creeks  Earthquake 

Canal  PrqjectChina  Onion  Creoles  Eclipse 

Canary  Bird  China  Paper  Crocodile  Ecliptic 

Canary  Isl-    China  Wall   Crosswise  Egypt 

ands  Chirimoya          Mark  Electric  Fluid 

Candia  Chiven  Crusades  Elephant 

Cannibal         Climacteric    Cuba  Elm 

Cantharis        Climate  Cuckoo  Embalming  - 

Canton  Clock  Cuttle  Fish  England 

Cape  Cod       Cloth  Tree      Cydnus 
Caravan          Clove  Tree     Cypress 

D. 


C  ard  sPlay  ingC  oach- Whip 

Carline  This-     Snake         Da^on 

,  ,  .      ^  ° 


tie 
Carnabis 
Carthage 
Carthgena 
Cashmere 


Cochin-ChinaDamascus 

Cochineal 

Cocoa  Tree 

Cod  Fish 

Coffee 


Caspian  Sea   Coffee  Tree 


English  Navy 
Era 
Eric 

Erie  Lake 
Ermine 
Dancing  Ser-  Esquimaux 

pents  Etna 

Danube  Europe 

Darien  European 

Dark  Days        Languages 


Cassiopea's    Cold  Spring   Days  Euxine 


Chair 
Cat 

combs 
mount 
Catanca 
Cayenne 


Colopaxi 
Colossus 
Colours 
Columbia 

River 
Comet* 


Deaf  Persons  Evaporation 


Deer 
Del  aware 
Del  Cane 
Delhi 
Delta 


F. 

Fellahs 
Fetiche 
Finger  Offer- 
ing 


CONTENTS. 


Fire 

Fire  Ball 

Fire  Damp 

Fire  Fly 

Fire  Spouts 

Fishes 

Flamingo 

Flanders 

Flint 

Floating  Gar-  Gourd 

dens 
Florida 


Goa 

Gold 

Gold  Coast 

Gold  Dust 

Golden  Vul- 
ture 

Good  Hope 
Cape 

Goths 


Helots  Inflammable 

Heracleum         Air 
Herculaneum  Inflammable 


Flowering 

Tree 
Flying  Fox 


Heron 

Herschell 

Hessian  Fly 

Hindoos 

Hindostan 

Hissing 
Snake 

Grand  Canal  Historical 
Greeks 

Greenland      Holland 
Green  Moun-  Holland  New  Italy- 
tains  Honey  Bees  J. 


Painting 


Earth 
Ink 

Inoculation 
Inquisition 
Insects 
Ireland 
Iron 

Iron  Wood 
Iroquois 
Isingglasi 


Flying  Squir-  Green  Turtle  Hop 

rel  GreySquirrel  Hornet 

Formo  sa         Grove  Horse 

Foulahs          Guana  Host 

Fox  Guanches 

France  Guinea 


France  Isle  of  Guinea  Pig 
Franklinea     Gull 
Freshet  Gulf  Stream 

Frigid  Zones  Gum  Tree 
Frisland          Gun  Powder 
Frost  Gymnotus 

Funeral  Pile  Gypsies 


Hottentots 
Howling 

Monkey 
Hudson's 

Bay 
Hudson's 

River 
Hugonots 


Jackall 

Jamaica 

Janizarief 

Janus 

Japan 

Jaquar 

Java 

Jersey 

Jerusalem 

Jesuits 

Jesuits9 
Jews 


Bark 


Fur 

G. 

Gambia 

Ganges 

Gazette 

Georgia 

Georgia 

Germany 

Giant 

Gibraltar 


Gypsum 

Hail 
Harlem 
Harmattan 
Harmonic 

Duel 
Havanna 
Hawksbill 

Turtle 


Humane  So-  Jiboya 


Ginger  Root  Heat 
Gin-Seng        Hebiscus 
Glaciers          Hecla 
Glutton  Hedysarum 

Gnat  Hegira 


cieties 
Humming 

Bird 
Huns 
Hurricane 
Hyena 

Ibis 

Ice 

Ice  Islands 

Iceland 

Ichneumon 


As.- 


Jordan 
Judicial 

trology 
Juggernaut 
Juno 
Jupiter 
Jury 

K. 

Kalmucs 
Kamptskatka 
Kava 
Kelp 


Ignis  Fatuus  Kennebeck 
Indian  Rat     Kentucky 
Indulgencies  Kilda 


10 


CONTENTS. 


Killer 

Kingbird 

Kingfisher 

Kink  aj  on 

Knight 

Knights  Er- 
rant 

Knights 
Templars 

Knout 

Koriacs 


Long-Island  Missisippi 
Longitude      Missouri 
Long  Knife    Moccasin 

Indian's  Snake 

Looking          Mocha 

Glass 


N.  Hampshire" 

Newfound- 
land 

New-Orleans 
New- York 


Mocking  BirdN.  York 


Louisiana 
Lun^s 

M, 

Madagascar 
Madder 


Kowry  Shells  Madeira 


Ivraken 

Kurbulo 

L. 

Lama 
Lamas 
Land  Slips 
Lapland 
Latana 
Latitude 
Laurel 


Maelstroom 

Maese 

Magellan 


Mahometans  Monsoons 


Mohawks 

Mohegans 

Mole 

Moloch 

Monati 

Money -PoundNigua 

Monkey          Nile 

Monks  Nineveh 

Monongahela  Nootka  Sound 


Niagara 

Nieper 

Niger 

Nightingale 

Nightshade 


Maine 
Maize 
Malacca 
Mammoth 

Marble 
Mars 


Laurel  Mag-  Martin 

nolia  Martin,  St. 

La  Vera  CruzMaryland 
Lawrence  St.Massachu- 


LazarQBi 
Lead 
Lebanon 
Letters 
Library 
Life  Boat 
Life  Scale 
Light 

>  ning 
Lima 
Lion 

Live  Oak 
Loadstone 
Locust 
Lollards 

:')!) 

Longevity 


setts 

Mast  Pine 
Mecca 
Media 
Mediterrar 

nean 
Medusa 
Met;. 
Mercury 


Month 

Moon 

Moors 

Moose 

Morai 

Morea 

Morocco 

Moss 

Mufti 

Mulberry 

Tree 
Mullet 


N.  America 
N.  Carolina 
North-East- 

ers 

Norway 
Nova  Scotia 
Nymphala 

O. 
Oak 
Obi 

Obonney 
Ocean 
Odin 


Mumbo-Jum-  Ohio  River 
Mummy    [bo  Ohio  State 


Murex 
Muscadine 

Grape 
Musk 

N. 


Merino  SheepNan  tucket 
Mexico  Naptha 

Michigan  Nature's 
Mineral  Coal  Dikes 
Mines  Nautilus 


Olive  Tree 
Olympic 
Games 
Onion  River 
Ontario 
Ordeal 
Or  oman  e« 
Orka 
Orleans 
Oronoko  ' 


Mint 
Minute  Ser- 
pent 


New  Britain  Ostracism 
New -Castle    Ostrich 
New-EnglandOtaheite 


CONTENTS. 


11 


Otter 


Pimento  TreeRattle  Snake  Sea  Otter 


Ouraiig   Ou-   Pin 
tang 

0  why  nee 

P. 

Pagodas 
Pallas 
Palma  ChristiPlantain 


Palmist 
Palmyra 
Pan 

Panacea 
Pandects 
Pangolin 
Panther 
Paper 

Paper  Mul- 
berry 
Paraguay 
Paris 
Parrot 
Pascataqua 
Patagonia 
Patowmac 
Peacock 


Raven  Seal 

Pinna  Red  Elm  Sedgmoor 

Pinnotheris     Red  Sea  Sego 

Plague  Rein  Deer  Senegal 

Planets  Rhinoceros  Sennar 

Plant  Rhode-Island  Sensitive 

Rhone  Plant 

Rhubarb  Serpe  Nera 

Rice  Shark 

River  Horse  Shea  Tree 

Romans  Shepherd 

Ar-Rome  Shetland 

Romee  Sinning 
Rose  Wood        Mountains 

Rosicrucians  Ship  Worm 

Royal  Canal  Siam 

Rumford's  Siberia 

Kitchen  Sicily 

Runnemede  Sierra  Leone 
Russia 


Plata 

Platina 

Pleiades 

Plummet 

Poisoned 

rows 
Poland 
Polar  Bear 
Pole  Star 
Poles 
Polypus 
Pope 
Poplar 
Poppy 
Porcelain 
Porcupine 
Portugal 


S. 

Sable 
Sahara 
Salmon 


Silk 

Silk  Insect 

Silk  Worm 

Silver 

Siminoles 


Pearl  FisheryPotatoe  Salmon  TroutSinai 


Pearl  Oyster  Powder  Plot  Salt  Mines 
Pekin  Powhatans      Samiel 

Pelew  IslandsProscription   Sandwich 
Pelican  Protestants         Islands 

Pelusium        Prussia 
Penance          Pruth 
Penguin          Ptarmigan 
Pennsylvania  Pyramid 


Pequots 
Persia 
Persimon 
Tree 


Phenicians 


Q- 

Quadrupeds 
Quail 
Quebec 
Quicksilver 
R. 


Philadelphia  Rain 
Pichinca         Rainbow 
Pigeon  Rasp  House 


Sanscript 

Saracens 

Sarana 

Sardam 

Saturn 

Saturn 

Savannah 

Crane 
Scheik 
Scorpion 
Scotland 
Sea  Ape 
Sea  Horse 


Skin 

Sky  Lark 

Slave  Trade 

Sleep 

Sloth 

Small  Pox 

Snake  Bird 

Snow 

Snow  Bird 

Society  Isl- 
ands 

Sound 

South  America 

South-Caro- 
lina 

Spain 

Spaniel 


12 


CONTENTS. 


Spanish  Swimming 

Broom  Switzerland 
Spice  IslandsSword  Fish 

Spider  Sympathetic 
Spinning  Ink 

Spitzbergen  Syria 
Stars  T. 

Stature  Talipot 

Steam  Tallow  Tree 

Steel  Tapier 

Stock  Dove  Tartary 

Stork  Taurus 

Stralsund  Tear 

Strombolo  Temperate 
Sturgeon  Zones 

Submarine  TenerifF 

Plants  Tennessee 

Suez  Thibet 

Sugar  Thorn  Plant 

Sugar  Cane  Tide 

Sugar  Maple  Tiger 

Sulphur  Tigris 

Sumach  Tin 

Sumatra  Tobacco 

Sun  Tomberongs 

Sun  Dew  Tombuctoo 

Sun  Flower  Tonquin 
Superior  LakeTormentil 

Susquehanna  Tornado 

Swallow  Torpedo 

Swan  Torrid  Zone 

Swan  Trafalgar 

Sweden  Transfusion 


Transmigra-  Water  Che»- 

tion  nut 

Trenton  Water  Fowl* 

Tripoli  Water  Spout 

Triumvirate  WaterWythe 

Troy  Wax  Tree 

Tunis  Week 

Turkey  Weregild 

Turks  West-Indies 

Twilight  Whale 

Tyre  Wheat 

U.  White  Moun- 
United  States    tains 

V.  Wild  Ass 

Vaccination  Wild  Boar 

Vapor  Wild  Goose 
Varnish  Tree  Wild  Horse 

Vegetable  Wild  Men 

Diet  Wild  Pine 

Venice  Willow 

Venus  Wind 

Venus  Winter's 
Vermont  Cinnamon 

Vesuvius  Wire 

Vienna  Wolf 

Vine  Wooden  Col- 
Virginia  lar 

Volcanos  Woodpecker 

W.  Z. 

Wales  Zabians 
Walnut  TreeZealand  New 

War  Belts  Zebra 

Water  Zinc 


HISTORICAL  DICTIONARY. 


A. 


or  Higher  Ethiopia,  an  ancient  king* 
dotn  in  Africa  ;  bounded  on  the  north  by  Nubia,  and  on 
the  east  by  the  Red  Sea;  lying  between  6  and  20  de- 
grees of  north  latitude  5  and  extending  about  nine  hun- 
dred miles  in  length,  and  eight  hundred  in  breadth. 
Lofty  mountains  are  scattered  all  over  this  country  5  in 
one  of  which,  called  the  Mountain  of  the  Moon,  the 
Egyptian  Nile  has  its  source.  For  half  the  year  they  en- 
joy a  cloudless  sky  ;  the  other  six  months  is  a  rainy  sea- 
son, attended  sometimes  with  dreadful  winds,  and  tre- 
mendous thunder  and  lightning.  Although  Abyssinia 
lies  wholly  v/ithin  the  torrid  zone,  its  atmosphere  has  dif- 
ferent degrees  of  temperature  5  the  air  in  the  vallies  is 
extremely  warm,  but  cooler  on  the  mountains.  The 
complexions  of  the  inhabitants  are  also  different  5  some. 
are  olive  coloured,  and  others  black.  This  country  sup- 
plies Egypt  and  a  part  of  Arabia  with  slaves.  JEvery 
year  (says  Volney)  a  caravan  from  Abyssinia  arrives  at 
Cairo,  on  its  way  to  Mecca,  and  brings  from  a  thousand 
to  twelve  hundred  black  slaves,  as  also  elephants'  teeth, 
gold-dust,  &c.  The  Abyssinians  attribute  the  founda- 
tion of  their  monarchy  to  Menelec,  a  son  ©f  the  queen 
of  Sheba  ;  their  religion  seems  to  be  a  mixture  of  Chris- 
tianity, Judaism  and  Paganism.  To  prevent  insurrec- 
tions and  rebelion,  they  confine  the  sons  of  their  kings 
Ujjon  a  high  mountain,  where  they  are  guarded  and  main- 
tained at  the  public  expense.  This"  singular  ;eustoiit 
gave  rise  to  Dr.  Johnson's  Rasselais,  a  production  of 
great  ingenuity  and  merit. 

ACAPULCO,  a  city  in  New  Spain,  on  a  bay  of  the 

Pacific  Ocean,  two  hundred  and  ten  miles  south-east  of 

the  city  of  Mexico.     It  is  the  seaport  by  which  the  com- 

munication is  maintained  between  the  different  parts  of 

B 


2       ACORN— ADDER— AFRICA. 

the  Spanish  empire  in  America,  and  the  East  Indies. 
About  the  month  of  December,  the  great  Galleon,  attend- 
ed by  a  large  ship  as  a  convoy,  annually  arrives  here. 
The  cargo  consists  of  all  kinds  of  rich  commodities  and 
manufactures  of  the  east.  At  the  same  time  the  annu- 
al ship  from  Lima,  the  capital  of  Peru,  conies  in,  and  is 
computed  to  bring  not  less  than  two  millions  of  pieces  of 
-eight  in  silver,  besides  other  valuable  commodities. 
Several  other  ships?  from  different  parts  of  Chili  and 
Peru,  meet  on  the  same  occasion  ;  and  the  great  fair,  in 
which  the  commodities  of  various  countries  are  barter- 
ed for  one  another,  lasts  thirty  d&ys....Winterbotham. 

ACORN,  the  seed  or  fruit  of  the  oak  ;  it  was  reckon- 
ed, in  former  times,  an  important  article  of  human  sus- 
tenance. We  are  told  by  historians  that  our  ancestors, 
in  the  forests  of  Germany  and  Britain,  fed  on  this  fruit 
as  a  luxury ;  and  that  violent  quarrels  sometimes  arose 
between  the  chiefs  of  their  clans,  respecting  the  division 
of  their  crops  of  acorns.  According  to  Vohiey,  the 
peasants  of  Syria,  at  this  day,  depend  for  a  considerable 
part  of  their  food  on  oak- acorns,  which  they  gather  up- 
on mount  Lebanon  ;  for  if  they  raise  barley  and  wheat* 
the  Arabs  of  the  wilderness  come  in  harvest-time,  and 
rob  them  of  their  crops. 

ADDER,  a  snake  of  the  viper  kind.  Its  body  is 
^hort  and  thick,  and  spotted  with  yellow.  Its  motion  in 
running  is  slow  $  when  provoked  it  throws  itself  into  a 
coil,  flattening  the  head,  brandishing  its  forky  tongue, 
and  hissing  as  a  goose.  Like  the  rattle-snake  it  springs 
at  a  singleleap  towards  the  object  of  its  vengeance,  about 
the  length  of  its  body.  The  poison  of  its  bite  is  mortal, 
unless  a  proper  antidote  be  speedily  administered.  This 
venomous  serpent  was  considerably  common  in  some 
of  the  oldest  settlements  in  New-England,  forty  or  fifty 
years  ago ;  but  the  detested  race  has  been  gradually 
extirpated. 

AFRICA,  one  of  the  four  principal  divisions  of  the 

globe,   surrounded  almost  by  water  ;   being  bounded  by 

le'literranean,  the  Atlantic  and  Indian  Ocean,  the 

Red  Sea?  and  the  isthmus  of  Suez,  which  is  a  strip  of 


AFRICAN   SERPENT— AGOUTI.  3 

land,  one  hundred  and  twenty  miles  wide,  that  divides 
it  from  Asia :  the  greater  part  lies  within  the  torrid 
zone.  All  the  inland  parts  of  Africa,  seem  in  all  ages 
of  the  world  to  have  been  in  the  same  barbarous  and 
uncivilized  state  in  which  we  find  them  at  present. — 
This  remarkable  circumstance  seems  to  be  principally 
owing  to  their  being  necessarily  secluded,  by  their  lo- 
cal situation,  from  commerce  and  social  intercourse  with 
the  rest  of  the  world.  There  are  in  Africa  no  great 
inlets,  such  as  the  Baltic  and  Adriatic  seas  in  Europe, 
the  Mediterranean  and  Euxine  seas  in  both  Europe  and 
Asia,  and  the  gulphs  of  Arabia,  Persia,  India,  Bengal, 
and  Siam,  in  Asia,  to  carry  maritime  commerce  into 
the  interior  parts  of  that  great  continent;  and  the  large 
rivers  of  Africa  are  at  too  great  a  distance  from  one 
another  to  afford  advantages  for  any  considerable  inland 
navigation.-— Jidain  Srvith. 

AFRICAN  SERPENT.  We  are  told  that  while 
Regulus,  the  Roman  general,  led  his  army  along  the 
banks  of  tjie  river  Bagrada  in  Africa,  an  enormous  ser- 
pe-Ei  disputed  his  passage  over.  We  are  assured  by 
Pliny,  who  says  that  he  himself  saw  the  skin,  that  it  was 
an  hundred  and  twenty  feet  long,  and  that  it  had  de- 
stroyed many  of  the  army.  At  last,  however,  the  bat- 
tering engines  were  brought  out  against  it  5  and  these 
assailing  it  at  a  distance,  it  was  soon  destroyed.  Its 
spoils  were  carried  to  Rome ;  the  skin  was  kept  for 
several  years  after  in  the  capitol ;  and  Pliny  (who 
though  a  credulous  writer,  has  never  been  charged 
with  wilful  falsehood)  says,  he  saw  it  there.—- Gold-* 
smith. 

AGOUTI,  an  animal  resembling  a  rabbit,  and  found 
in  great  abundance  in  the  southern  parts  of  America. 
It  is  hunted  by  dogs,  before  which  it  runs*  with  great 
swiftness  until  it  gains  its  retreat,  wherein  it  continues 
to  hide,  and  nothing  but  filling  the  hole  with  smoke 
can  force  it  out.  For  this  purpose  the  hunter  burns 
fagots  or  straw  at  the  entrance,  and  conducts  the  smoke 
in  such  a  manner,  that  it  fills  the  whole  cavity.  While 
this  is  doing  the  poor  little  animal  seems  sensible  of  its 
clanger,  and  begs  for  quarter  with  a  most  plaintive  cry, 


A  AIR. 

seldom  quitting  its  hole  till  the  utmost  extremity. — 
Goldsmith. 

AIR,  that  colourless,  transparent,  compressible,  elas- 
tic fluid,  which  every  where  surrounds  our  globe  to  a 
certain  height :  and  gravitating  towards  its  centre,  is 
carried  along  with  it,  and  partakes  of  all  its  motions, 
botli  annual  and  diurnal.  We  not  only  derive  from  the 
4iir  the  breath  of  life,  but  it  is  also  the  medium  of  sight 
mid  sound  ;  insomuch  that  without  it  we  could  neither 
see  nor  hear.  The  vast  body  of  air  that  encompasses 
our  globe  is  generally  called  atmosphere,  and  has  been 
computed  to  be  about  forty-ei^ht  miles  in  height,  and 
about  eight  hundred  times  lighter  than  water.  The 
weight  of  the  column  of  air  that  presses  on  the  superfi- 
ces  of  the  body  of  a  middle-sized  person,  is  computed 
to  be,  at  a  medium,  thirty-nine  thousand  and  nine  hun- 
dred pounds.  The  difference  of  the  weight  of  the  air, 
which  our  bodies  sustain  at  one  time  more  than  anoth- 
er, has  been  proved  to  be  equal  to  about  three  thousand 
find  nine  hundred  pounds,  between  the  greatest  and  the 
least  pressure.  Our  bodies  would  be  instantly  cashed 
;and  destroyed  by  the  weight  of  the  atmosphere,  if  its 
pressure  were  not  equal,  or  nearly  equal,  on  every  part 
of  their  superfices.  The  atmosphere  is  a  heterogene- 
ous body.  Besides  ten  thousand  different  steams  from 
minerals,  vegetables  and  animals,  which  are  constantly 
ascending  and  mixing  with  the  atmosphere,  the  serial 
body  itself  is  of  a  compound  nature,  consisting  of  three 
different  species  of  air;  namely,  of  vital  air,  of  azotic 
air,  and  of  fixed,  or  carbonic  air.  The  common  pro- 
portion of  vital  air,  called  oxygen,  is,  in  the  atmosphere, 
about  one  fourth ;  that  of  azote  about  five  eighths ;  and 
that  of  carbonic  nearly  one  sixteenth.  We  cannot 
brc-athc  without  a  proportion  of  oxygen,  or  vital  air; 
both  the  other  species  of  air  being  unfit  for  respiration. 
Of  the  three  original  species  of  air,  the  carbonic  is  the 
;<>st,  and  next  in  gravity  is  the  oxygen.  The  spe- 
ciiic  gravity  of  azote  compared  with  that  of  common  at- 
ir.os]>1n'ric  air,  lias  been  found  to  be  as  nine  hundred 
and  forty- two  to  a  thousand. — TVitlich,  Quincy,  Ruther* 
ford. 


AJACIO— ALEPPO— ALGIERS.  5 

AJACIO,  an  extraordinary  tree,  that  grows  on  the 
shores  of  the  Antilles  islands.  According  to  Labat 
and  du  Tetre,  it  grows  to  such  a  prodigious  size,  that 
out  of  one  log  of  it  they  make  a  boat  capable  of  carry- 
ing so  many  as  forty  men.  This  tree  is  also  the  only 
one,  of  those  shores,  which  is  never  attacked  by  the 
sea  worm,  an  insect  so  formidable  to  every  other  spe- 
cies of  timber  which  floats  in  those  seas,  that  it  de- 
vours whole  squadrons  in  a  very  little  time,  and  occa- 
sions the  necessity  of  sheathing  the  bottoms  of  the  ves- 
sels with  copper.— £tf.  Pierre. 

ALEPPO,  the  capital  of  the  Turkish  province  of  Sy- 
ria 5  situated  in  the  vast  plain  which  extends  from  the 
river  Orontes  to  the  Euphrates  5  it  possesses  the  ad- 
vantage of  a  rich  and  fruitful  soil,  and  also  that  of  a 
stream  of  fresh  water,  ^hich  never  dries.  Aleppo  is 
not  exceeded  in  extf^r&y  any  city  in  Turkey,  except 
Constantinople  ?iftd  Cairo,  and  perhaps  Smyrna  5  it  is 
in  itself  one  of  the  most  agreeable  cities  in  Syria,  and 
is,  perharv>9  the  cleanest  and  best  built  of  any  in  the 
TurK^t  empire.  This  city  is  the  emporium  of  Arme- 
IVi'a"  and  the  Diarbeck,  that  is,  of  the  ancient  Mesopota- 
mia, between  the  river  Tigris  and  the  Euphrates.  It 
sends  caravans  to  Bagdad,  and  into  Persia  ;  and  com- 
municates with  the  Persian  gulph  and  India,  by  Basra ; 
with  Egypt  and  Mecca,  by  Damascus  5  and  with  Eu- 
rope, by  Alexandretta.  The  inhabitants  are  Christians 
and  Turks,  and  are,  with  reason,  esteemed  the  most 
civilized  in  all  Turkey ;  the  European  merchants  no 
•where  enjoy  so  much  liberty,  or  are  treated  with  so 
much  respect. —  Volney. 

ALGIERS,  one  of  the  states  of  Barbary  in  Africa  5 
extending  six  hundred  miles  in  length  \  bordering  on 
Tunis,  on  the  Mediterranean,  on  Mount  Atlas,  and  on 
Morocco.  The  air  is  temperate  5  the  land  towards  the 
north  is  fertile  in  corn  ; ;  "the  vallies  are  full  of  fruit ;  the 
melons  have  an  exquisite  taste ;  the  stems  of  the  vines 
are  so  large  that  a  man  can  hardly  grasp  them  with  his 
arms  ;  and  the  bunches  of  grapes  are  a  foot  and  a  half 
long.  The  city  of  Algiers,  which  is  the  capital  of  this 
country,  is  a  strong  town,  built  on  the  declivity  of  a 
B  2 


*  ALLEGANY— ALLIGATOR. 

mountain,  and  is  in  the  form  of  an  amphitheatre  ilex;! 
the  harbor ;  insomuch  that  the  houses  rising  one  above 
another,  make  a  very  fine  appearance  from  the  sea. 
The  climate  is  delightful  $  extreme  heat  is  not  com- 
mon 5  seldom  is  frost  seen ;  the  earth  is  covered  with 
almost  perpetual  verdure.  The  Christian  slaves  in  Al- 
giers were  formerly  computed  at  four  thousand  $  lately 
they  amounted  to  no  more  than  twelve  hundred.—* 
Morse. 

ALLEGANY,  a  vast  range  of  mountains,  running 
north-easterly  and  south-westerly,  nearly  parallel  with 
the  coasts  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  and  extending  rom 
Georgia  to  the  river  Hudson,  about  nine  hundred  miles 
In  length.  This  range,  as  to  its  principal  ridges,  is  call- 
ed the  back  bone  of  the  United  States.  The  immense 
territory  lying  between  the  Allegany,  the  Mississippi, 
and  the  lakes,  was  formerly  dunned  by  the  French ; 
who,  in  order  to  enforce  their  claims-erected  a  chain  of 
forts  to  command  that  whole  territory.  To  one  of  those 
forts,  George  Washington,  while  yet  a  youth  $nd  scarce- 
Iv  arrived  to  manhood,  was  sent  by  the  governof-o£  Vir- 
ginia, on  an  important  embassy  5  an  embassy,  the  duties 
of  which  he  discharged  with  remarkable  ability  and 
prudence,  and  at  the  imminent  hazard  of  his  life. — 
Had  the  French  gained  their  point,  they  wrould  have  en- 
circled the  Anglo-American  colonies,  from  Nova-Seo- 
tia  to  the  Mississippi,  as  with  a  vast  belt. 

ALLIGATOR,  or  American  crocodile,  a  formidable 
species  of  animals,  which  are  seen  in  great  multitudes 
in  several  of  the  rivers  of  Georgia  and  the  Floridas. — 
The  alligator,  when  full  grown,  is  of  prodigious  strength, 
activity,  and  swiftness  in  the  water.  Some  grow  from 
twenty  to  twenty -three  feet  in  length  ;  their  body  is  as 
large  as  that  of  a  horse,  and  nearlv  resembles  a  lizard. 
Their  scales,  when  the  animal  is  alive^  are  impenetrable- 
even  to  a  rifle  ball,  except  about  their  head,  and  just  be- 
hind thcpr  fore  legs,  where  only  they  ape  vulnerable. 
The  head  resemlilee,  at  a  distance,  a  great  chump  of 
wood  floating  about  upon  the  water  ;  the  mouth  of  a  ve- 
'  pens  about  three  feet  in  width,  displaying 
rows  of  very  long,  thick,  strong  teeth,  which  are  as. 


ALPS— AMAZON.  7 

white  as  the  finest  polished  ivory.  When  they  clap  their 
jaws  together  it  causes  a  surprising  noise,  and  may  be 
heard  at  a  great  distance,  they  have  a  loud  and  terri- 
ble roar,  which  most  resembles  very  heavy  distant  thun- 
der 5  and  when  hundreds  of  them  are  roaring  together, 
it  seems  as  if  the  earth  itself  were  agitated.  These  ri- 
ver monsters  are  often  seen  lying  in  great  numbers  up- 
on the  banks,  where  they  seize  hogs  and  other  animals, 
which  go  to  the  river  to  drink.  They  sometimes  attack 
small  boats  with  such  fury,  as  to  put  the  lives  of  the 
boatmen  in  great  jeopardy. — Bartram. 

ALPS,  the  highest  mountains  in  Europe,  being  about 
two  miles  in  perpendicular  height ;  dividing  Italy  from 
France,  Swisserland  and  Germany  :  they  have  but  few 
passes,  and  those  difficult  of  access.  The  prospect  from 
many  parts  of  this  enormous  range  of  mountains  is  ex- 
tremely romantic.  One  of  the  most  celebrated  is  the 
Grand  Chartreuse,  on  the  top  of  which  a  monastery  was 
founded  in  1080,  and  continues  to  the  present  time. 
The  distance  from  a  little  village  at  the  bottom  of  this 
mountain  to  its  top,  is  six  miles.  Along  this  course  the 
Jo?Vd  runs  winding  up,  for  the  most  part  not  six  feet 
broad.  On  one  hand  is  the  rock,  with  woods  of  pine 
trees  hanging  overhead,  and  on  the  other  a  prodigious 
precipice,  almost  perpendicular,  at  the  bottom  of  which 
rolls  a  deep  torrent.  The  highest  peak  in  the  Alpine 
range,  is  called  Blanc ,  or  White ,  because  its  summit  is 
always  covered  with  snow  :  it  is  situated  in  the  duchy 
of  Savoy,  which  duchy  is  now  called  Mont  Blanc  by  the 
French,  who  seized  it  in  1792,  and  made  it  an  84th  de- 
partment of  France.  M.  de  Sassure  measured  Mont 
Blanc,  in  the  year  1784,  and  found  its  altitude  to  be  fif- 
teen thousand  six  hundred  and  sixty -two  feet  above  the 
level  of  the  sea  :  its  top  seems  to  reach  and  even  pierce 
the  highest  region  of  the  clouds. — Walker. 

AMAZON,  a  river  in  South  America,  which  has  its 
source  among  the  Andes,  in  Peru  $  whence  running 
eastward,  it  pours  into  the  ocean,  directly  at  the  equa- 
tor. This  largest  of  all  rivers  is,  at  its  mouth,  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  miles  broad,  and  fifteen  hundred  miles 
from  its  mouth;  13  thirty  or  forty  fathoms  deep.  It 


8  AMAZONIA— AMERICA. 

runs  at  least  three  thousand  miles  ;  receives  in  its 
course  near  two  hundred  Bother  rivers,  many  of  which 
are  five  or  six  hundred  leagues  in  length  ;  and,  in 
pouring  itself  into  the  ocean,  repels  its  waters  to  the 
distance  of  many  leagues  from  the  land. — Walker. 

AMAZONIA,  a  large  country  in  South  America* 
fourteen  hundred  miles  in  length,  and  nine  hundred  in 
breadth  ;  situated  between  the  equator  and  20°  south 
latitude  ;  bounded  north  by  Terra  Firma  and  Guiana  ; 
east  by  Brazil ;  south  by  Paraguay,  and  west  by  Peru. 
This  country  was  first  traversed  in  1580,  by  Francisco 
Oreilana,  who  coming  from  Peru,  sailed  down  the  great 
river  to  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  Observing  companies  of 
women  in  arms  on  its  banks,  he  called  the  country  Ama- 
zonia, or  the  land  of  the  Amazons,  and  gave  the  name 
of  Amazon  to  the  river,  which  had  formerly  been  called 
Maragnon.  The  soil  is  very  rich  and  fertile  ;  the  trees, 
fields,  and  plants,  are  verdant  all  the  year  round.  The 
rivers  and  lakes  are  infested  with  crocodiles,  alligators, 
and  serpents.  Their  banks  are  inhabited  by  different 
tribes  of  Indians,  governed  by  petty  sovereigns  distin- 
guished from  their  subjects  by  coronets  of  beau&fc] 
Feathers.  The  Indians  of  this  country  are  of  a  good 
stature,  and  have  comely  features  ;  and  are  said  to  nave 
a  taste  for  painting  and  sculpture,  and  to  be  ingenious 
in  learning  the  mechanic  arts.  The  Spaniards  have 
made  many  attempts  to  settle  in  Amazonia,  but  their 
designs  have  been  rendered  abortive. — Morse,  Walker. 

AMERICA,  a  vast  continent,  discovered  by  Christo- 
pher Columbus,  in  1491  ;  but  took  its  name  from  Ameri- 
cus  Vespusius,  a  Florentine,  who,  a  few  years  after  the 
discovery  of  this  continent,  having  accompanied  Ojeda, 
fuisii  adventurer  hither,  and  drawing  up  an  amus- 
ing history  of  his  voyage,  insinuated  therein  that  he  was 
the  fii -«t  discoverer.    The  American  continent  is  nearly 
Mid  miles  from  north  to  south,  and  its  average 
•!-li  from  east  to  west  is  computed  to  be  from  eigu- 
•!rcd  to  Uvo  thousand  miles.   It  has  the  loftiest 
is  and  the  largest  rivers  in  the  known  world ; 
braces  .every  variety  of  climate,  and  yields  almost 
kind  of  production  that  may  be  found  on  airy  part 


AMMON— AMSTERDAM.  9 

flic  globe.  Only  a  small  proportion  of  America  is 
under  cultivation.  It  has  been  thought  to  contain  a 
3opulation  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  millions  ;  but  some 
ate  writers,  with  the  appearance  of  truth,  compute  its- 
whole  number  of  inhabitants  as  not  exceeding  fifty  mil- 
lions, which  is  scarcely  a  sixth  part  of  the  supposed 
population  of  China. 


P 

la 


AMMON,  one  of  the  titles  of  the  heathen  god  Jupi- 
ter. The  Greeks  called  him  Jupiter,  and  the  Egyptians 
Ammon  ;  and  in  process  of  time  these  two  names  were 
united,  and  he  was  called  Jupiter -Ammon*  From  No- 
ah's son  Ham  (whence  came  the  name  Ammon)  Egypt 
and  Lybia  were  first  peopled  after  the  flood  $  and  when 
idolatry  began  to  prevail  in  the  world,  Ham,  their  pro- 
genitor, became  the  deity  of  the  people  of  these  coun- 
tries, and  a  temple  was  built  to  his  honor  in  the  midst 
of  the  Lybian  desarts,  ahtmt  eighty  leagues  from  Mem- 
phis in  Egypt.  Ale:;u,nder,  after  liis  conquest  of  Persia, 
undertook  an  arduous  journey  through  deep  and  burn- 
ing sands,  from.  Memphis  to  the  temple  of  Jupiter-Am- 
mon,  for  the  purpose  of  being  declared  by  the  Oracle 
to  be  the  son  of  the  god  ;  and  having  gained  his  point 
by  bribing  the  priests,  he  thenceforward  in  all  his  let- 
ters, orders,  and  decrees,  wrote  in  the  style  following : 
Alexander,  king,  son  of  Jupiter -Amman.  In  allusion 
to  Alexander's  claim  to  godship,  is  the  appellation  that 
Pope  gives  him  in  the  following  line  : 

"  Or  let  young  Ammon  loose  to  scourge  mankind." 

AMSTERDAM,  a  very  rich  commercial  city  in  Hol- 
land, computed  to  contain  about  a  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  inhabitants.  The  ground  upon  which  it  is 
Iwilt  being  originally  a  morass,  the  foundation  of  the 
city  is  laid  upon  piles  driven  deep  into  the  miry  bottom  $ 
and  most  of  the  streets  have  canals,  with  rows  of  trees 
on  each  side.  Its  public  buildings  are  numerous  and 
splendid  ;  its  air  is  bad,  and  its  waters  unwholesome. 
The  two  circumstances  which  chiefly  contributed  to 
the  rapid  growth  and  prosperity  of  this  city,  were  the 
fall  of  Antwerp,  and  a  general  toleration  in  matters  of 
religion,  at  a  time  when  persecution  raged  in  England 


10  ANCIENT  EMPIRES. 

and  on  the  continent  of  Europe.  No  people  ever  car- 
ried commercial  avarice  to  a  greater  length  than  the 
citizens  of  Amsterdam,  especially  during  the  seven- 
teenth century.  In  1638,  one  Beiland,  a  merchant  of 
that  city,  having  carried  on  a  contraband  trade,  and 
being  taken  and  examined  by  the  prince  of  Orange,  he 
profanely  replied,  that  he  was  free  to  own,  if  to  get  any 
thing  by  trade  it  were  necessary  to  pass  through  hell, 
he  was  ready  to  burn  his  sails.  See  ANTWERP. 

ANCIENT  EMPIRES.  The  most  celebrated  an- 
cient empires  were  the  Assyrian,  the  Chaldean,  the 
Median,  the  Persian,  the  Macedonian,  and  the  Roman: 
empire.  The  first  empire,  after  the  flood,  was  the  As- 
syrian, whose  capital  was  Nineveh,  which  was  founded 
by  Ashur,  the  grandson  of  Noah.  The  ambitious  war* 
oV  the  Assyrians  during  five  hundred  years,  threw  Asia 
into  confusion.  At  length  Babylon  of  the  Chaldees, 
from  being;  the  vassal  of  Nineveh,  became  her  rival,  and 
the  seat  of  a  new  empire  $  and  the  i^des,  some  time 
after,  shook  off  their  yoke,  and  dispossessed  the  Assyri- 
ans, their  former  masters  ;  whose  last  king  w'as  Sarda- 
napulus,  the  most  effeminate  and  debauched  among  hu- 
man beings.  The  transfer  of  empire  from  the  Assyri- 
ans to  the  Medes  happened  about  nine  hundred  years 
before  the  nativity  of  our  Saviour.  The  famous  Cyrus, 
whose  father  was  a  Persian,  and  his  mother  the  daugh- 
ter of  Astyages,  king  of  Media  and  sovereign  over  Assy- 
ria, put  an  end  to  the  Chaldean  empire  by  the  conquest 
of  Babylon  ;  and  afterwards  driving  Astyages,  his 
grandfather,  from  his  throne  and  kingdoms,  he  united 
Media,  Assyria  and  Chaldea,  to  Persia,  and  thus  raised 
the  Persian  empire  to  a  prodigious  greatness.  The 
Persians,  under  Cyrus,  within  the  space  of  thirty  years, 
extended  their  conquests  from  the  river  Indus  to  the 
Mediterranean  sea.  About  three  hundred  and  thirty 
years  before  our  Saviour's  birth,  Persia  was  conquered 
by  Alexander  the  great  ;  and  the  Macedonian  empire 
iii-D.sc.  to  \;jst  height  ot  power  and  splendor.  This  em- 
pire, which  was  spread  in  Asia,  Europe  and  Africa, 
was  '-nimbled  to  pieces,  and  brought  into  subjection  by 
.the  FlmiKtns  ;  who  extended  their  dominion,  for  a  long 
time,  over  almost  all  parts  of  the  known  world.  In  the 


ANDES—ANGORA  GOAT.  11 

fifth  century,  the  western  Roman  empire  was  overrun 
and  subdued  by  innumerable  hordes  of  wandering  shep- 
herds, called  Goths,  Vandals,  and  Huns,  from  the  for- 
ests of  Germany,  north  of  the  Danube.  Each  of  these 
empires  had  been  a  mighty  oppressor  and  scourge  to 
the  human  race  ;  and  each,  in  its  turn,  (only  the  Per- 
sian excepted)  has  by  the  overruling  hand  of  Provi- 
dence, been  utterly  wiped  off  from  the  face  of  the 
earth. 

ANDES,  a  vast  chain  of  mountains  in  South  Ame- 
rica. They  stretch  along  the  Pacific  Ocean  from  the 
straits  of  Magellan  to  the  isthmus  of  Darien,  upwards 
of  four  thousand  miles  5  thence  they  run  through  the 
".sive  kingdom  of  New-Spain,  till  they  lose  them- 
selves in  the  unexplored  countries  of  the  north.  M. 
Boquer  lound  the  highest  part  of  this  chain  to  be  twen- 
ty thousand  live  hundred  and  seventy  feet  in  height ; 
this  is  the  highest  mountain,  by  above  five  thousand 
feet,  of  any  in  the  known  world.  The  Andes  have  six- 
teen volcanoes,  which  break  out  in  various  places,  and 
by  melting  the  snow,  occasion  such  torrents,  that  num- 
bers of  men  and  cattle  have  perished.  They  are  passa- 
ble only  in  summer,  and  require  three  or  four  days  to 
reach  the  top  of  any  one  of  the  highest.  Some  of  the 
largest  rivers  on  the  globe  have  their  origin  in  this  pro- 
digious range  of  mountains. — Moore,  Williams. 

ANGORA  GOAT,  a  species  of  goat,  so  called,  be- 
cause found  in  its  highest  excellence,  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  Angora,  a  city  of  ancient  Syria.  They  are  of 
a  dazzling  white  colour,  and,  in  all,  the  hair  is  very 
long,  thick,  fine,  and  glossy  ;  which  is  indeed  the  case 
with  almost  all  the  animals  of  Syria.  There  is  a  great 
number  of  these  animals  about  Angora,  where  the  in- 
habitants drive  a  trade  with  their  hair,  which  is  sold 
either  raw  or  manufactured,  into  all  the  parts  of  Eu- 
rope. Nothing  can  exceed  the  beauty  of  the  stuffs 
which  are  made  from  the  hair  of  almost  all  the  animals 
of  that  country.  These  are  well  known  by  the  name  of 
camlet.  The  great  antiquity  of  this  kind  of  manufac- 
ture is  evident  5  as  we  are  told  in  sacred  scripture,  that 


1C  ANIMALCULES— ANJOU  CABBAGE— ANT. 

Ibe  curtains  of  Moses's  tabernacle  were  made  of  goat's 
hair,  probably  of  that  of  the  Angora  goat. 

ANIMALCULES,  extremely  small  animals,  gene- 
rally applied  to  such  as  are  not  visible  to  the  naked  eye. 
All  parts  of  the  terraqueous  globe,  the  air,  earth,  and 
water  swarm  with  living  creatures,  which  are  so  small 
as  to  be  seen  only  by  the  help  of  glasses.  Lewenhoek 
reckoned  up  some  thousands  of  animalcules,  furnished 
with  fins,  in  a  single  drop  of  water.  Others  have  been 
found,  whose  feet  are  armed  with  claws,  on  the  body  of 
the  fly,  and  even  on  that  of  the  flea.  It  is  credible  from 
analogy,  that  there  are  animals,  or  animalcules,  feeding 
on  the  leaves  of  plants,  like  cattle  in  our  meadows  ; 
which  repose  under  the  shade  of  a  down  imperceptible 
to  the  naked  eye. — St.  Pierre. 

ANJOU  CABBAGE,  a  very  useful  vegetable,  which 
till  very  lately,  was  unknown  in  England.  The  seed 
was  supplied  by  a  French  emigrant,  and  it  has  recently 
been  brought  to  perfection,  near  Bristol.  It  is  so  ten- 
der, that  it  is  dressed  in  three  or  four  minutes'  boiling. 
It  alibrds  excellent  food  for  cattle,  and  they  feed  upon 
it  very  greedily ;  it  occasions  cows  to  yield  abundance 
of  milk,  and  at  the  same  time  keeps  them  in  flesh.  In 
bulk,  rapidity  of  growth,  and  for  the  little  culture  it 
requires,  it  exceeds  all  others  of  the  cabbage  species. — 
The  stalk  acquires  the  thickness  of  a  man's  leg,  and  is 
used  when  dry  for  fuel. 

ANT,  a  well  known  insect,  remarkable  for  a  won- 
derful degree  of  industry  and  economy  :  of  this  little 
animal  there  is  a  variety  of  species.  According  to 
Goldsmith,  in  that  part  of  Africa,  called  the  Golden 
Coast,  there  is  a  species  of  ants  which  raise  a  pile  sev- 
eral feet  high  for  their  dwelling.  They  are  so  numer- 
ous, large,  and  voracious,  that  no  animal  can  withstand 
their  united  attack  ;  and  when  they  seize  their  prey  in 
jjivat  numbers,  they  will  eat  oft*  every  particle  of  flesh 
from  the  body.  '  The  voyagers  to  New  Holland,  or  New 
;i  Wales,  have  found  there  innumerable  swarms  of 
Yich  build  their  nests  upon  trees,  by  bend- 
ing down  the  leaves,  and  gluing  them  together  so  as  to 


ANTHONY'S  FALLS— ANTELOPE— ANTIMONY;     13 

form  a  purse.  Though  these  leaves  are  as  broad  as  a 
man's  hand,  they  perform  this  feat  by  main  strength, 
-thousands  of  them  being  employed  in  holding  down  the 
leaves,  while  multitudes  of  others  apply  the  glutinous 
matter.  If  they  are  disturbed  in  their  work  by  med- 
dling people,  they  instantly  throw  themselves  by  thou- 
-sancfs  upon  the  intruders,  and  revenge  themselves  by 
their  bite  or  sting,  which  is  little  less  painful  at  first 
than  the  sting  of  a  bee,  but  the  pain  is  momentary.—- 
Cookers  Voyage. 

ANTHONY'S  FALLS.  The  falls  of  St.  Anthony 
are  in  the  river  Mississippi,  in  44°  50'  north  latitude ; 
and  to  this  point  the  river  is  navigable.  Here  the  whole 
river,  about  fifty  rods  in  width,  falls  perpendicularly 
above  thirty  feet,  and  forms  a  most  pleasing  cataract. 
At  a  little  distance  below  the  falls  is  a  small  island, 
about  an  acre  and  a  quarter,  on  which  grow  a  great 
number  of  oak  trees  5  all  the  branches  whereof,  able  to 
bear  the  weight,  are,  in  the  proper  season  of  the  year, 
loaded  with  eagles'  nests.  Their  instinctive  wisdom 
has  taught  them  to  choose  this  place,  as  it  is  secure  or* 
account  of  the  rapids  above,  from  the  attacks  either  of 
man  or  beast.— Morse. 

ANTELOPE,  a  beautiful  little  animal,  from  which  is 
taken  the  bezoar-stone.  The  Arabs  have  a  very  hand- 
some sort  of  antelopes  which  they  rear  in  their  houses. 
They  become  domestic,  and  are  models  of  agility  and 
gracefulness.  They  are  so  familiar  as  to  be  trouble* 
some.  They  leap  in  general  by  three  springs,  of  which 
the  second  is  the  longest,  and  all  their  feet  rise  and 
come  to  the  ground  together.  They  are  in  height  from 
thirteen  to  fifteen  incries,  and  can  leap  six  ©r  seven 
feet.  Their  coat  is  grey,  with  a  silver  belly  5  and  their 
horns,  which  are  straight,  are  of  a  shining  black,  and 
never  longer  than  two  inches.  These  animals  are  re* 
mark  able  for  requiring  but  very  little  nourishment  5  a 
quality  which  the  barrenness  of  the  country  where  they 
breed  renders  necessary. — Grandpre. 

ANTIMONY,  a  blackish  mineral  substance,  staining 
the  hands,  hard,  brittle,  and  considerably  heavy.    It  i* 
C 


14  ANTIOCH— - ANTIPODES. 

found  in  different  parts  of  Europe,  as  Bohemia,  Saxo- 
ny, Transylvania,  Hungary,  France,  and  England.  An- 
timony is  the  stibiam  of  the  ancients,  and  was  used  by 
them  in  paint ;  with  this  Jezebel  blackened  her  eye- 
brows, as  the  women  of  Georgia,  in  Asia,  do  at  the  pre- 
sent time.  It  is  not  only  used  medicinally  in  the  dis- 
eases of  animals,  and  for  fattening  horses  and  swine  ; 
but  it  is  a  common  ingredient  in  specula  or  burning 

f  lasses,  serving  to  give  the  composition  a  finer  texture, 
t  also  makes  a  part  in  bell-metal,  and  renders  the 
sound  more  clear.  It  is  mingled  with  tin,  to  make  it 
more  hard,  white,  and  sounding,  and  with  lead,  in  the 
casting  of  printers'  letters,  to  render  them  more  smooth 
and  firm.  It  is  used  also  in  the  casting  of  cannon  balls, 
and  for  purifying  and  heightening  the  colour  of  gold. — 
Encyclopaedia* 

ANTIOCH,  a  port  town  ot  Syria,  once  esteemed  the 
third  city  of  the  world,  but  is  now  in  ruins.  This  is 
the  place  where  the  disciples  of  our  Saviour  were  first 
called  Christians:  it  belongs  to  the  Turkish  empire.  In 
the  time  of  Trajan  the  Roman  emperor,  the  city  of  An- 
tioch,  together  with  a  great  part  of  the  adjacent  coun- 
try, was  overwhelmed  by  an  earthquake.  About  three 
hundred  years  after,  in  the  time  of  the  emperor  Justin- 
ian, it  was  once  more  destroyed,  together  with  forty 
thousand  inhabitants ;  and,  after  an  interval  of  sixty 
years,  the  same  ill-fated  city  was  a  third  time  overturn- 
ed, with  the  loss  of  not  less  than  sixty  thousand  per- 
sons.— Goldsmith. 

ANTIPODES,  in  geography,  those  who  live  so  dia- 
metrically opposite  to  each  other,  that  if  a  right  line 
were  continued  through  the  earth,  each  of  its  extremi- 
ties would  touch  the  feet  of  one  of  the  parties.  Long 
after  the  learned  in  Europe  were  convinced  of  the  glob- 
ular form  of  the  earth,  there  were  many  of  them  who 
doubted  the  practicability  of  sailing  round  it.  Accord- 
ingly some  of  the  most  learned  men  in  Spain,  to  whose 
consideration  the  projected  voyii/;o  of  Columbus  was 
submitted,  objected  to  it :  that  if  a  ship  should  sail  west- 
ward on  a  round  globe,  she  would  necessarily  go  down, 
•n  tne  opposite  fcicle.  and  then  it  would  be  impossible 


ANTWERP— APE— APIS.  15 

to  return  ;  because  it  would  be  like  climbing  up  a  hill, 
which  no  ship  could  do  with  the  strongest  wind. — Bel- 
knap. 

ANTWERP,  a  capital  ojity  in. Brabant,  situated  on 
each  side  of  the  river  Scheld.  From  two  to  three  cen- 
turies ago,  the  wealth  and  commerce  of  this  Dutch  city 
were  prodigious  ;  two  thousand  and  five  hundred  mer- 
chant vessels  arriving  in  its  port  in  one  year  5  and  the 
value  of  the  merchandise  imported  in  the  single  year 
1550,  amounting  to  one  hundred  and  thirty -three  mil- 
lions of  gold.  During  the  long  and  bloody  struggles  of 
Philip  II.  of  Spain,  to  subjugate  the  Dutch,  Antwerp 
was  besieged  by  a  powerful  army  ;  and  after  a  very  gal- 
lant defence,  was  obliged,  in  1585,  to  acknowledge  the 
sovereignty  of  Philip.  This  was  owing  to  a  most 
shameful  cause.  The  Hollanders,  and  particularly  the 
citizens  of  Amsterdam,  obstructed  every  measure  pro- 
posed for  the  relief  of  Antwerp,  hoping  to  profit  by  its 
reduction.  The  protestants,  it  was  concluded,  would 
forsake  it,  as  soon  as  it  fell  into  the  hands  of  Philip. — • 
The  conjecture  proved  just;  Antwerp  went  hourly  to 
decay  5  and  Amsterdam,  enriched  by  the  ruin  of  her 
sister,  became  the  greatest  commercial  city  in  the  Neth- 
erlands.— Russell. 

APE,  an  animal  of  the  monkey  kind,  and  nearly  re- 
sembling the  human  form.  The  female  has  but  a  sin- 
gle young  one  at  a  time,  which  she  carries  on  her  back ; 
and  when  she  suckles  it,  she  takes  it  in  her  arms  and 
gives  it  the  breast,  in  the  same  manner  as  a  woman 
does  to  her  child.  They  are  remarkable  for  mimick- 
ing the  actions  of  human  beings.  Among  the  ancients 
the  ape  was  in  demand  (doubtless  from  mere  curiosity) 
as  a  commercial  commodity ;  and  it  made  a  part  of  the 
lading  of  Solomon's  ships  from  the  east. — Fenning. 

APIS,  an  ox,  or  bull,  venerated  as  a  divinity  by  the 
ancient  Egyptians,  and  fed  and  worshiped,  at  Mem- 
phis. This  ox  must  be  distinguished  by  certain  extra- 
ordinary marks  ;  particularly,  its  whole  body  was  to  be 
black,  except  a  white  square  spot  on  the  forehead. — • 
When  a  calf  was  found,  with  these  and  other  necessary 


16    AP?LE  TRSE-APOLLO'S  STATUE-ARABIA. 

marks,  it  was  carried  in  triumph  to  the  temple  of  Osiris^ 
at  Memphis,  where  it  was  kept  and  worshiped  as  the 
representative  of  that  deity.  Whenever  the  apis  died, 
great  grief  spread  over  the  land  of  Egypt,  and  contin- 
ued till  another  proper  calf  was  found.  It  was  in  imi- 
tation of  this  idolatry,  that  the  Israelites  who  had  emi- 
grated from  Egypt,  worshiped  the  golden  calf  in  the 
wilderness. 

APPLE  TREE,  one  of  the  most  valuable  fruit  trees 
in  the  world  :  this  excellent  tree  is  said  to  have  been 
brought  into  Italy  from  Syria  and  Africa,  a  very  few 
years  before  the  nativity  of  our  Saviour.  Apple  trees 
should  be  kept  from  their  first  growth  pruned  in  such  a 
manner  as  to  spread  very  much,  rather  than  to  run  up 
tall  $  they  should  be  cleared  from  limbs  which  stop  and 
choak  out  the  free  circulation  of  the  air.  From  May 
to  November,  manure  eaough  to  smother  and  kill  the 
grass,  should  be  put  about  the  stems  of  the  youn^ 
trees  ;  but  after  the  beginning  of  November,  it  should 
be  carefully  removed,  as  the  held  mice  would  otherwise 
j;naw  the  bark,  and  spoil  the  trees. 

APOLLO'S  STATUE,  a  brazen  statue,  fof  a  prodi- 
gious size,  dedicated  to  the  god  Apollo.  It  had  former* 
ly  stood  in  the  city  of  Gela  in  Sicily.  The  Carthage - 
nians  having  taken  it,  about  four  hundred  and  twelve 
years  before  the  nativity  of  Christ,  had  given  it  by  way 
of  present  to  the  city  of  Tyre,  which  was  the  mother 
of  Carthage  $  and  the  Tyrians  had  set  it  up  in  their  city, 
and  worship  was  paid  to  it.  During  Alexander's  seige 
of  Tyre,  on  a  dream  which  one  of  the  citizens  had,  the 
Tyrians  imagined  that  Apollo  was  determined  to  leave 
them,  and  go  over  to  Alexander ;  and  immediately  they 
fastened  with  a  golden  chain,  his  statue  to  the  altar  of 
Hercules,  the  tutelar  god  of  the  city,  to  prevent  Apollo 
from  making  his  escape.  Such  strange  ideas  did  some, 
of  the  wisest  among  the  pagan  nations  entertain  of  tluir 
divinities  \—RolUn. 

ARABIA,  a  country  of  Asia,  situated  between  twelve 
and  thirty  degrees  north  latitude  ;  extending  fourteen 
huadred  and  tuirty  miles  jin  length ,  and  twelve  hundred 


APvBELA.  17 

In  T>readth  ;  bounded  by  the  Red  Sea  and  the  isthmus 
of  Suez,  by  the  river  Euphrates,  by  the  Persian  Gulph, 
and  by  the  Indian  Ocean.  It  was  through  the  desarts 
or  wilderness  of  Arabia,  that  the  children  of  Israel  pass- 
ed in  their  memorable  journey  from  Egypt  to  the  pro- 
mised land ;  and  in  this  country  is  me  mount  Sinai 
where  God  gave  the  law  to  Moses.  The  Arabs  are  the 
descendants  of  Ishmael,  a  "  wild  man*'  himself,  and  his 
posterity,  for  almost  four  thousand  years,  equally  un- 
tameable.  This  wonderful  people,  through  a  long  suc- 
cession of  ages,  have  suffered  no  change  in  their  man- 
ners. At  all  times  they  have  been  distinguished  for  the 
same  rapacity  and  ferociousness ;  for  their  robberies 
and  piracies  5  for  their  hospitality  to  the  man  that  is  un- 
der their  roof,  and  their  readiness  to  rob  and  murder 
him  when  they  find  him  abroad  ;  and  for  their  invinci- 
ble love  of  liberty  and  bravery  in  its  defence  5  having 
made  extensive  conquests  over  other  nations,  but  never 
been  conquered  themselves.  The  Arabic  is  probably 
the  most  extensive  living  language  in  the  world.  It  is 
the  language  of  several  hundred  millions  of  people. — • 
Besides  Arabia,  it  is  spoken  in  Syria,  Persia,  part  of  In- 
dia, and  of  China,  half  of  Africa,  in  Turkey,  and  in  all 
the  sea-coasts  of  the  Mediterranean  to  which  the  Turk- 
ish empire  extends.  This  extraordinary  extensiveness 
of  the  Arabic,  is  owing  to  its  being  the  language  i» 
which  the  Alcoran  of  Mahomet  was  written.' 

ARBELA,  an  ancient  city  of  Asia,  near  the  river 
Tigris  5  famous  for  the  battle,  called  the  battle  of  Arbe- 
la,  fought  in  its  neighborhood,  between  Darius,  king 
of  Persia,  and  Alexander  the  Great,  king  of  Macedon. 
The  army  of  Darius  consisted  at  least  of  six  hundred 
thousand  foot,  and  forty  thousand  horse  ;  while  that  of 
Alexander  was  no  more  than  forty  thousand  foot,  and 
seven  or  eight  thousand  horse.  The  Persians  were  de- 
feated with  the  loss  of  three  hundred  thousand  men,  be- 
sides those  who  were  taken  prisoners.  This  decisive 
battle  subdued  Persia,  and  threw  its  immense  trea- 
sures into  the  hands  of  Alexander.  The  invaluable 
provinces  of  Babylonia,  Susiana,  and  PeVsis,  with  their 
respective  capitals  of  Babylon,  Susa,  and  Persepolis, 
were  the  prize  of  this  victory.  The  gold  and  silver 
C  % 


18  ARCHIPELAGO-AREOPAGUS— ARGAL'S  LAWS. 

found  in  those  cities  amounted  to  thirty  millions  ster- 
ling; the  jewels  and  other  precious  spoil,  belonging  to 
Darius,  sufficed,  according  to  Plutarch,  to  load  twenty 
thousand  mules,  and  five  thousand  camels. — Rollin,  En- 
eyclopoedia. 

ARCHIPELAGO,  a  part  of  the  Mediterranean  sea. 
The  numerous  islands  in  the  Archipelago,  several  of 
which  were  famous  for  wealth  and  power  as  well  as  sci- 
ence, were  pessessed  by  the  ancient  Greeks  5  the  most 
celebrated  of  these  islands  was  Crete,  (now  called  Can- 
dia)  which  had  more  than  a  thousand  cities,  towns  and 
villages.  These  islands  are  now  in  the  possession  of 
the  Turks,  \vho  have  withered  the  beauty  of  every 
country  over  which  their  power  has  extended. 

AREOPAGUS,  a  celebrated  Athenian  tribunal :  it 
was  in  the  city  of  Athens,  on  the  summit  of  a  rock  OF 
hill  opposite  to  the  citadel ;  the  word  Areopagus  signi- 
fying literally  rock  of  Mars.  The  judges  of  this  cour$ 
Toted  with  pieces  of  flint,  held  between  the  thumb  and 
lingers  5  putting  their  votes  into  two  urns,  the  one  call- 
ed the  urn  of  death,  and  the  other  the  urn  of  compassion. 
In  the  primitive  condition  of  the  Areopagus,  the  judges 
were  remarkable  for  their  integrity  and  impartiality  j 
but  in  process  of  time  they  degenerated  :  they  condemn- 
ed the  wise  and  virtuous  Socrates ;  three  hundred  and 
sixty -one  of  them,  on  that  occcasion,  casting  their  votes 
into  the  urn  of  death.  St.  Paul  was  brought  before  this 
high  and  ancient  court ;  where  he  delivered  that  pow- 
eifui  address  recorded  in  the  17th  of  Acts  ;  and  Dyo- 
msius,  one  of  the  judges,  was  converted  by  him  to  the 
Christian  faith. 

ARGAL'S  LAWS.  In  1617,  captain  Samual  Ar^al 
was  appointed  deputy -governor  of  the  colony  of  Virgin- 
ia, under  lord  Delaware,  and  admiral  of  the  adjacent 
seas.  To  counteract  the  ill  eftects  of  the  indulgent  go- 
vernment of  Yeardley,  his  predecessor,  Argal,  exercis- 
ed a  military  despotism,  which  hardly  has  a  parallel  in 
the  history  of  the  colonies.  A  specimen  of  his  severe 
discipline  may  be  seen  in  the  following  edicts,  recorded 
in  the  ingenious  and  learned  Dr.  Belknap's  Jlmerican 


ARGATI— ARIETOES.  19 

"  He  fixed  the  advance  on  goods  import- 
ed from  England  at  twenty -five  per  cent,  and  the  price 
of  tobacco  at  three  shillings  per  pound  ;  the  penalty  for 
transgressing  this  regulation  was  three  years'  slavery* 
No  person  was  allowed  to  fire  a  gun  except  in  his  own 
defence  against  an  enemy,  till  a  new  supply  of  ammu- 
nition should  arrive  ;  on  penalty  of  one  year's  slavery. 
Absence  from  church  on  Sundays  and  holidays,  was 
punished  by  laying  the  offender  neck  and  heels,  for  one 
whole  night,  or  by  one  week's  slavery  ;  the  second  of- 
fence by  one  month's  ;  and  the  third  by  one  year's  slave- 
ry. Private  trade  with  the  savages,  or  teaching  them 
the  use  of  arms,  was  punishable  by  death.  These  and 
similar  laws  were  executed  with  great  rigor  by  Argal ; 
who,  though  odious  to  the  colony,  was  never  punished, 
but  was  afterwards  knighted  by  king  James." 

ARGATI,  or  Wild  Mountain  Sheep,  an  animal  com- 
mon in  Kamptskatka,  but  unknown  in  Europe,  except 
in  Corsica  and  Sardinia.  Its  skin  resembles  that  of  the* 
deer,  but  it  nearer  approaches  the  goat  in  its  gait  and 
general  appearance.  Its  head  is  adorned  with  two 
large  twisted  horns,  which,  when  the  animal  is  at  full 
growth,  sometimes  weigh  from  twenty-five  to  thirty 
pounds  5  and  are  rested  on  the  creature's  back  when  it 
is  running.  They  are  remarkably  swift  and  active ; 
they  frequent  only  the  most  craggy  and  mountainous 
parts,  and  traverse  the  steepest  rocks  with  astonishing 
rapidity.  They  are  extremely  beautiful,  and  their  flesh 
is  sweet  and  delicately  flavored.  Of  their  horns  are 
made  spoons,  platters,  and  cups,  by  the  Kamptskadales, 
who  often  have  one  of  the  latter  hanging  to  a  belt, 
serving  them  to  drink  out  of  when  in  their  hunting  ex- 
peditions. — Cookers  Voyage. 

ARIETOES,  the  name  of  the  public  dances  among 
the  natives  of  the  island  of  Hispaniola,  or  St.  Domingo. 
At  these  arietoes  or  public  dances,  (which  were  appro- 
priated to  particular  solemnities  amd  accompanied  by 
historical  songs)  it  was  customary  to  dance  from  even- 
ing to  the  dawn  ;  and  although  fifty  thousand  men  and 
women  were  frequently  assembled  together  on  these 
occasions,  they  seemed  to  be  actuated  by  one  common 


SO  ARMADA—ARTILLERY. 

impulse  ;  keeping  time  bj  responsive  motions  of  their 
hands,  with  a  wonderful  exactness. — Bryan  Echvards. 

ARMADA.  The  prodigious  Spanish  fleet,  called 
the  Invincible  Jzraiada,  was  fitted  out  by  Philip  II.  of 
Spain,  for  the  conquest  of  England,  and  appeared  in 
the  English  channel  in  the  year  1588  ;  having  on  board 
about  twenty  thousand  land  forces.  There  was  also  a 
vast  number  of  flat-bottomed  vessels  prepared  to  trans- 
port into  England  an  army  of  thirty -five  thousand  men, 
assembled  in  the  Netherlands.  This  fleet  consisted  of 
a  hundred  and  thirty  ships,  of  which  the  most  were  pro- 
digiously large  ;  and  when  it  was  first  discovered  in  the 
channel,  it  appeared  in  the  form  of  a  crescent  or  half- 
moon,  stretching  at  the  distance  of  seven  miles  from 
the  extremity  of  one  division  to  that  of  the  other. 
Though  the  English  navy  was  infinitely  inferior,  in 
number  and  size,  it  boldly  attacked  the  armada,  cap- 
tured several  ships,  burnt  several  others,  and  dispersed 
the  rest  ;  which  meeting  with  a  violent  storm,  not  one 
half  of  them  returned  to  Spain,  and  a  still  less  propor- 
tion of  the  soldiers  and  seamen.  This  terrible  blow  to 
their  naval  power,  the  Spaniards  have  never  since  re- 
covered.— liussdl. 

ARTILLERY,  great  guns  or  cannon.     They  were 

•i.sed  in  1346,  in  the  battle  of  Cressy  :  where  Ed- 
ward III.  had  four  pieces  of  cannon,  which  greatly  con- 
tributed to  gain  him  the  victory  over  the  Frencli,  who 
had  only  small  arms.  Those  who  are  used  to  artil- 
lery are  able  to  judge  accurately  of  the  direction  in 

li  a  cannon  is  fired,  by  comparing  with  each  other 
the  two  Hashes  of  powder  ;  the  one  from  the  muzzle, 
and  the  other  from  the  touch-hole.  Standing  on  a  wall 

:;rtifi cation,  and  critically  observing  those  two 
Hashes,  they  determine  v '/ether  the  ball  goes  to  the 
right,  or  to  the  left,  or  is  coming  to  the  very  spot  where 
they  are  ;  in  the  latter  case  tK?.y  take  care  to  leap  as 

as  they  see  the  Hash.     Bomb -shells  may  be  plainly 

seen  in  \  'lie  air;  but  in  some  casts',  the 

•in<z;  these  shells  coming  towards  them, 

been  fitsunai.;.;!  by  their  appearance,  and  unable 
the  spot,  as  small  birds  are  said  to  be  1>J 


ASH—  -ASIA—  -ASP,  £1 

the  rattle-snake.  Capt.  Drinkwater,  in  his  account  of 
the  last  siege  of  Gibraltar,  says,  "  This  sudden  arrest 
of  the  faculties  was  nothing  uncommon  5  several  in- 
stances occurred  to  my  own  observation,  where  men, 
totally  free,  have  had  their  senses  so  engaged  by  a  shell 
in  its  descent,  that  though  sensible  of  their  danger,  even 
so  far  as  to  cry  for  assistance,  they  have  been  immovea- 
bly  fixed  to  the  place.  But  what  is  more  remarkable, 
(continues  he)  these  men  have  so  instantaneously  re- 
covered themselves  on  its  fall  to  tVe  ground,  as  to  re- 
move to  a  place  of  safety  before  the  shell  burst." 

ASH,  a  common  and  useful  tree.  The  white  ash  in 
particular,  is  a  stiff,  light,  and  durable  timber,  and  is 
much  used  for  carriages,  and  for  many  of  the  tools  em- 
ployed in  agriculture.  The  bark  of  this  tree  is  an  ex- 
cellent antidote  for  poison.  It  is  an  undoubted  truth, 
that  the  natives  of  this  country,  who  are  generally  well 
acquainted  with  the  virtues  of  indigenous  productions, 
have  the  white  ash  in  great  estimation  as  peculiarly  ef- 
ficacious against  the  poison  of  venomous  snakes.  The 
bark,  used  as  an  antidote  may  be  chewed,  or,  what  is 
better,  a  decoction  of  it  swallowed  with  milk.  —  Jhtterican 
Museum. 

ASIAj  one  of  the  four  great  divisions  of  the  world  ; 
lying  east  of  Europe,  and  extending  more  than  four 
thousand  and  seven  hundred  miles  in  length,  and  al- 
most four  thousand  and  four  hundred  in  breadth.  The 
frigid  zone  in  Asia  is  much  wider  than  it  is  in  Europe  ; 
the  former  continent  hardly  knows  a  temperate  zone. 
From  the  Northern  Ocean  to  Caucasus,  (says  Montes- 
quieu) Asia  may  be  considered  as  a  flat  mountain  ; 
tnence  to  the  ocean  that  washes  Persia  and  India,  it  is  a 
low  and  level  country,  without  seas,  and  protected  by 
this  immense  range  of  hills  (that  is,  by  the  chain  of 
mountains  called  Caucasus)  from  the  polar  winds.  The 
Asiatic  is,  therefore,  wanner  than  the  European  conti- 
nent, below  the  fortieth  degree  of  latitude  ;  and  above 
that  latitude,  it  is  much  more  cold.  —  Jldavii  Sm 


ASP,  a  small  poisonous  kind  of  serpent,  whose  bite 
gives  a  speedy  and  certain  death  :  it  lies  convolved  in  * 


22    ASPHALTITES— ASPHODEL— ATHENS. 

circle,  in  the  centre  of  which  is  the  head.  This  spe- 
cies of  serpent  is  said  to  be  plenty  in  Africa,  and 
particularly  about  the  banks  of  the  Nile.  It  was  with 
the  asp  that  Cleopatra,  queen  of  Egypt,  is  said  to  have 
dispatched  herself,  and  thus  prevented  the  designs  of 
Augustus,  who  intended  to  have  carried  her  captive  to 
adorn  his  triumphal  entry  into  Rome.  Lord  Bacon 
considers  the  asp  as  the  least  painful  of  all  the  instru- 
ments of  death.  He  supposes  its  poison  to  have  an  af- 
finity to  opium,  but  to  be  less  disagreeable  in  its  opera  - 
t i  on . — En  eye  lopcedia. 

ASPHALTITES,  a  lake  in  ancient  Canaan,  about 
twenty -four  miles  long,  and  six  or  seven  broad  :  situated 
south  of  the  river  Jordan,  and  receiving  into  its  bosom 
the  waters  of  Jordan,  Arnon,  and  Kedron.  It  is  called 
JlsphaltiteS)  on  account  of  the  bitumen  with  which  it 
abounds  ;  it  is  also  called  the  Dead  Sea,  by  reason  that 
it  contains  neither  animal  nor  vegetable  life.  Volney 
affirms,  that  there  is  no  verdure  to  be  seen  on  its  banks, 
nor  fish  to  be  found  in  its  haters.  This  lake  is  likewise 
called  the  Sea  of  Sodom,  as  it  is  supposed  to  cover  the 
ground  of  ancient  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  together  with 
that  of  the  whole  vale  of  Siddim,  which  are  thought  to 
have  been  sunk  by  an  earthquake  after  the  destruction 
by  fire  from  heaven. 

ASPHODEL,  the  Day  Lily.  There  are  six  species ; 
and  by  some  of  the  unenlightened  ancients  were  plant- 
ed near  burying-places,  to  supply  the  manes  of  the  de- 
ceased with  nourishment.  Hence  may  be  seen  the  beau- 
ty of  Pope's  lines  :  Penning. 

"  By  those  happy  souls  who  dwell 

"  In  yellow  meads  of  Asphodel" 

ATHENS,  a  city  of  ancient  Greece  ;  and  was  the 

most  celebrated  seat  of  learning  and  of  the  fine  arts : 

it  is  now  called  Seiincs9  and  is  the  capital  of  a  province 

in  European  Turkey.     As  the  Athenians  had  a  greater 

thirst  lor  learning  than  any  other  people,  so  they  re- 

<l    the  celebrated  teachers  of  the  sciences  with 

•d  liberality.     When  Isocrates  1  aught  rhetoric 

at  ^  e  is  said  to  have  had  a  hundred  scholars  : 


ATLAS— AURORA  BOREALIS— AVA.    25 

and  from  each  scholar  he  demanded  ten  minee,  or  thir- 
ty-three  pounds  six  shillings  and  eight  pence  sterling. 
He  must  have  made,  therefore,  by  each  course  of  lec- 
tures, a  thousand  minee,  or  three  thousand  three  hun- 
dred and  thirty -three  pounds  six  shillings  and  eight 
pence  sterling.— Mam  Smith. 

ATLAS,  the  name  of  two  celebrated  chains  of  moun- 
tains in  Africa.  The  Great  Atlas  extends  from  the 
desart  of'  Barca,  about  eighty  leagues  west  of  Alexan- 
dria, to  t'iie  east  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  to  which  it  gives 
name.  The  Little  Atlas  extends  from  the  Straits  of 
Gibraltar  into  the  country  of  Algiers.  The  loftiest 
parts  oi'  these  ranges  of  mountains  are  of  such  vast 
height,  -and  for  the  most  part  covered  with  snow,  as  to 
be  seer/  at  a  great  distance  off  at  sea :  their  snowy  tops, 
together  with  the  Peak  of  Teneriffe,  are  necessary 
cooler £  to  the  sultry  regions  of  Africa.  The  ranges  of 
mountains  called  Atlas,  are  generally,  however,  oi  such 
a  mo-Jerate  height,  that  they  are  inhabited,  and,  in  some 
P^acjfes,  well  cultivated.  From  the  ancient  fiction  of 
Atl  /!s  carrying  the  world  on  his  back,  the  name  Atlas, 
as  -applied  to  a  book  of  maps  of  the  different  parts  of 
the^  Morld,  is  derived. — 'Morse,  Walker. 

AURORA  BOREALIS,  or  Northern  Light.  Dr. 
HfJ  ley  tells  us,  that  the  auroi  a  borealis  was  seen  but 
p*'  ce  in  the  seventeenth  century,  that  is,  in  1621,  when 
rt  attracted  considerable  attention,  particularly  in 
^r  a  rice,  where  the  celebrated  Gassena  observed  it,  and 
£a  ve  it  the  name  which  it  now  bears.  It  appeared  with 
peculiar  frequency  in  the  course  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
turjy.  Modern  philosophers  have  ascertained  many 
factts  with  respect  to  the  aurora  borealis,  which  were 
°f  course  unknown  to  those  who  lived  in  the  seven- 
^  enth  century.  It  seems  now  to  be  generally  consid- 
f  ;red  either  as  an  electrical  phenomenon,  or  produced 
by  the  combustion  of  inflammable  air. — Miller. 

AVA,  a  large  kingdom  of  Asia,  called  the  Birman 

I  Empire  ;  lying  between  the  British  possessions  in  India, 

!  and  the  empire  of  China  ;  and  thought  to  contain  about 

seventeen  millions  of  people;  who  are  pagans.    In  the 


24      BAAL'S  TEMPLE—  BABOON. 

year  1767,  the  Chinese,  with  an  army  of  fifty  thousand 
inen?  invaded  the  kingdom  of  Ava,  or  the  Birman  em- 
pire.* This  army  was  all  cut  to  pieces  by  the  Birmans, 
except  two  thousand  and  five  hundred  Chinese,  who 
were  made  prisoners,  and  put  to  hard  labor  for  the 
remainder  of  their  lives.  The  Birmans,  although  they 
have  not  explored  the  depths  of  science,  or  reached  to 
excellence  in  the  finer  arts,  have  yet  an  undeniable 
claim  to  the  character  of  a  civilized  people.  t  A  know- 
ledge of  letters  is  so  widely  diffused  that  there  are  no 
mechanics,  few  of  the  peasantry,  or  even  of  the  com- 
mon watermen  (usually  the  most  illiterate  cLiss)  who 
cannot  read  and  write  in  the  vulgar  tongue.—  - 


*  Between  the  advanced  frontier  of  the  Chinese  empire, 
and  that  of  the  British  possessions  in  India,  there  no  7  inter- 
venes (according  to  a  late  London  Review)  only  a  narrow  ter- 
ritory, about  one  degree  of  latitude. 


B. 

JJAAL'S  TEMPLE,   a  vast  temple  in  the  cit/^of 
Babylon,  erected  to  Belus,  Bell  or  Baal,  each  name 
mfying  Lord,  in  the  eastern  language.     It  was  a  square 
building,  measuring  about  twelve  hundred  feet  on  < 
side  5  and  out  of  the  middle  of  it  rose  a  solid  tower,  c  '** 
pyramid,  also  of  a  square  figure,  six  hundred  feet! 
and  of  an  equal  width  from  the  base.     On  the  top   of 
that  tower  was  formed  a  spacious  dome,  which  so; 
us  an  observatory  to  the  ancient  Chaldean  astronoi;: 
In  this  dome  was  a  table  of  gold,  and  a  pompous  b<  -^3 
but  no  statue.     The  lower  part  or  body  of  the  temj  >le, 
which  surrounded  the  tower,  was  adorned  with  saci\  ^d 
furniture  in  the  same  precious  metal  5  a  golden  altar  an*  ^ 
table,  and  a  magnificent  statue  of  the  god,  seated  on  a 
throne  of  solid  gold. — RusseL     See  HOST  and  ZABIAJ\TS. 

BABOON,  ,an  animal  of  the  monkey  kind,  from  three 
to  lour  feet  high  when  standing  erect,  very  strong  built, 
with  a  thick  body  and  limbs,  and  canine  teeth.  Its  hand? 
as  well  as  its  feet  are  armed  with  long,  sharp  claws ;  am 


BABYLON—BAGDAD— BAIA.  « 

it  can  easily  overcome  more  than  a  single  man,  unless 
armed.  At  the  Cape  of  Good-Hope,  they  set  about  rob- 
bing an  orchard  or  a  vineyard  with  surprising  skill  and 
regularity ;  forming  a  line  reaching  all  the  way  from 
the  orchard  or  vineyard  to  the  place  of  rendezvous, 
and  tossing  the  fruit  from  one  to  another  all  along  the 
line,  till  it  is  safely  deposited  at  their  head  quarters.—* 
The  natives  of  the  Cape  often  take  the  young  of  these 
animals,  and  feeding  them  with  sheep  or  goat's  milk, 
accustom  them  to  guard  their  houses  ;  which  duty  they 
perform  with  great  punctuality. — Goldsmith. 

BABYLON,  an  ancient  city,  which  in  its  prosperity, 
was  one  of  the  wonders  of  the  world  for  magnificence  ; 
situated  on  a  watery  plain,  at  no  great  distance  from  the 
river  Tigris,  in  Asia,  and  was  the  capital  of  the  Chaldean 
empire.  It  is  said  to  have  been  fifteen  miles  square, 
with  walls  three  hundred  and  fifty  feet  high,  and  eighty- 
seven  feet  thick,  and  with  beautiful  gardens  suspended 
aloft  in  the  air.  This  famous  city,  during  the  impious 
feast  of  Belshazzar,  was  taken  by  Cyrus  ;  who  having 
turned  the  course  of  the  river  that  run  through  it, 
marched  his  army  into  the  city,  along  the  river's  bed. 
Babylon  has  been,  for  thousands  of  years,  vast  heaps  of 
mouldering  ruins,  till  at  last  it  can  hardly  be  told  where 
it  stood  j  and  it  is  remaakable,  that,  while  this  city  was 
yet  in  its  glory,  the  manner  of  its  capture,  and  its"  utter 
destruction,  were  clearly  and  circumstantially  foretold 
by  the  prophets. 

BAGDAD,  a  city  of  Asiatic  Turkey,  near  the  spot 
where  ancient  Babylon  stood.  It  is  thought  to  contain 
more  treasure  than  any  city  of  equal  size  in  the  world  ; 
and  the  immense  quantity  of  specie  found  in  the  coffers 
of  the  late  Rya  (or  prime  minister)  of  Bagdad,  seems  to 
warrant  such  a  conjecture.  He  was  murdered  (a  fexv 
years  ago)  by  conspirators  employed  against  him  by  his 
successor  in  office  $  and  when  the'bashaw  seized  on  his 
property,  an  exact  account  was  taken  of  his  treasure, 
which  amounted  in  value  to  upwards  of  three  millions 
sterling. — Jackson* 

BAIA,  an  inconsiderable  town  of  Italy,  situated  at 


£6          B  AID  ARES— BALBEC— B  AL  OON. 

the  bay  of  Naples.  This  town  was  once  famous  for  its 
hot  baths  and  elegant  palaces.  The  Romans,  when 
sunk  in  luxury  and  voluptuousness,  constructed  on  the 
shores  of  Baia,  saloons  underneath  the  waves  of  the  sea, 
in  order  to  enjoy  the  coolness  and  the  murmuring  noise 
of  the  water,  during  the  summer. — St.  Pierre. 

BAIDARES,  a  kind  of  boat  formed  of  whalebone,  and 
covered  with  the  skins  of  seals.  In  this  boat  the  Sibe- 
rians, (a  people  belonging  to  the  Russian  empire)  sail 
in  one  day,  during  the  summer,  from  the  continent  of 
Asia  to  the  western  coast  of  the  continent  of  America. 
During;  winter,  they  pass  from  one  continent  to  the 
other,  in  a  day,  with  rein  deer. — (Hooke's  Voyage. 

BALBEC,  (anciently  the  celebrated  Heliopolis,  or 
city  of  the  Sun)  a  town  of  Syria,  situated  near  Mount 
Lebanon.  Many  incidents,  together  with  the  perni- 
cious government  of  the  Turks,nad  contributed  to  the 
gradual  ruin  of  this  once  famous  town  ;  when  an  earth- 
quake, in  the  year  1759,  completed  its  destruction. — 
This  earthquake  is  said  to  have  destroyed,  in  the  valley 
of  Balbec,  upwards  of  twenty  thousand  persons — a  loss 
which  was  never  repaired.  For  three  months,  the 
shocks  of  it  terrified  the  inhabitants  of  Lebanon  so  much 
as  to  make  them  abandon  their  houses,  and  dwell  un- 
der tents. —  Volmy. 

BALOON,  a  thin  light  tegument,  filled  and  inflated 
with  inflammable  air  5  which  being  seven  times  lighter 
than  common  air,  it  will,  according  to  the  established 
laws  of  specific  gravity,  rise  in  the  common  atmos- 
phere. The  first  human  being  that  adventured  in  this 
aerial  navigation,  was  M.  Pilatre  de  Rozier,  a  French- 
man, who  rose  in  a  lar«;e  baloon  from  a  garden  in  the 
city  of  Paris,  on  the  loth  of  October.  1783,  and  remain- 
ed a  considerable  time  suspended  in  the  air.  1 
month  of  June,  1785,  de  Roller,  together  with  M.  Ko- 
main,  rose  in  a  baloon,  from  Boulogne  ;  and  after  hav- 
!K»en  a  mile'  high,  for  about  half  an  hour,  the  baioon 
took  lire,  and  they  were  both  dashed  to  pieces  by 
fall.  Mr.  Rozier  (says  Dr.  Darwin)  was  a  phUpso- 
pheir  of  great  talents  and  activity,  joined  with  such  ur- 


BALTIC--BAMBARRA.  27 

banity  and  elegance  of  manners,  as  conciliated  the  af- 
fection of  his  acquaintance,  and  rendered  his  misfortune 
universally  lamented.  Miss  Susan  Dyer,  an  amiable 
young  lady,  was  engaged,  in  a  few  days  to  marry  this 
gentleman,  who  had  promised  her  to  quit  such  danger- 
ous experiments  in  future.  She  was  a  spectatress ^  of 
this  terrible  accident,  lingered  some  months,  and  died 
from  excessive  grief. 

BALTIC,  a  large  inland  sea  in  the  north  of  Europe  ; 
having  on  its  coasts  Denmark,  Sweden,  Russia,  Prussia 
and  Germany.  In  the  Baltic  is  neither  ebb  nor  flow; 
yet  there  are  always  two  opposite  currents  5  an  upper 
current  that  sets  tlirough  the  sound  into  the  ocean,  and 
an  under  current  that  is  perpetually  rushing  in  from  the 
ocean.  Hence  a  boat  in  the  sound  may  be  kept  station- 
ary, by  means  of  a  basket  full  of  stones  :  when  this  is 
thrown  overboard,  and  suspended  at  a  proper  depth  by 
a  rope,  the  boat  is  prevented  from  being  carried  along 
with  the  upper  current,  by  the  pressure  of  the  opposite 
current  beneath  on  the  basket.  In  winter  this  sea  is 
commonly  frozen  for  three  or  four  months ;  owing  prob- 
ably to  the  influx  of  several  large  rivers  into  it,  which 
render  its  waters  so  fresh  that  they  may  in  some  mea- 
sure be  used  for  culinary  purposes.  There  is  said  to 
have  been  a  constant  gradual  decrease  of  the  waters  of 
the  Baltic,  and  that  it  recedes  from  its  shores  at  the  rate 
of  about  forty-five  inches  in  a  century  5  perhaps,  how- 
ever, it  may  have  gained  as  much  in  some  parts  of  it* 
coasts  as  it  has  lost  in  others. 

BAHBARRA,  a  kingdom  of  Africa  on  the  river  Ni* 
§jer.  The  land  is  fruitful,  and  highly  cultivated ;  the 
face  of  the  country  is  charming ;  the  people  are  civilized , 
but  are  terrified  at  the  sight  of  a  white  man.  Mun- 
go  Park  arriving  at  a  village  in  this  kingdom,  was  re- 
garded with  astonishment  and  fear,  and  no  man  would 
admit  him  into  his  house  :  meanwhile  night  was  coming 
on,  a  black  cloud  denoted  an  approaching  tempest,  and 
the  wild  beasts  were  roaring  for  their  prey.  In  this  for- 
lorn situation  a  venerable  negro  woman  happened  to  find 
him  ;  her  pity  overcame  her  fears  ;  she  conducted  him 
to  her  dwelling,  lighted  up  a  lamp,  fed  him  with  boiled 


£8  BAMBOO—BANANA  TREE. 

jrice,  spread  a  mat  upon  the  floor,  and  told  him  to  sleep 
there  without  apprehension.  Her  female  domestics, 
who  had  stood  gazing  on  him,. in  fixed  astonishment,  she 
then  ordered  to  resume  their  task  of  spinning  cotton,  in 
which  they  continued  to  employ  themselves  through  the 
Jiight.  They  lightened  their  labor  by  songs,  one  at 
least  of  which  was  evidently  composed  extempore ;  for 
Park  himself  was  the  subject  of  it.  It  was  sung  in  a 
aweet  and  plaintive  tone  of  voice,  by  one  of  the  young 
women,  the  rest  joining  in  a  sort  of  chorus  :  the  words, 
literally  translated,  are  these  : — "  The  winds  roared, 
"  and  t!?e  rains  fell ;  the  poor  white  man,  faint  and  weary, 
*6  came  and  sat  under  our  tree.  He  has  no  mother  to 
"  bring  him  milk  5  no  wife  to  grind  his  corn."  Chorus. 
**  Let  us  pity  the  white  man  }  no  mother  has  he." 

BAMBOO,  a  kind  of  reed,  that  grows  to  the  height 
d  size  of  large  trees.  The  trunk  is  hollow,  and  divid- 
ed at  certain  spaces  by  knots,  but  is  very  strong,  and 
capable  of  sustaining  an  enormous  weight.  The  bam- 
boo reeds  are  used  as  pipes  to  convey  water ;  when  split 
lengthwise  and  divided  into  thin  slips,  they  are  woven 
into  mats,  trunks,  and  various  other  works;  paper  is 
also  made  from  a  certain  paste  procured  from  them,  af- 
ter they  have  been  bruised,  and  steeped  in  water.  Some 
build  houses  of  bamboo  reeds.  At  MareveUe-island,  as 
Perouse  relates,  they  came  to  a  village  consisting  of 
about  forty  houses  ;  the  foundations  of  which  were  raised 
about  four  feet  from  the  ground  5  the  walls  and  floors 
being  made  of  bamboo,  and  the  roofs  covered  with  leaves. 
They  had  the  appearance  of  bird  cages  suspended  in  the 
air.  The  whole  materials  of  such  a  house,  he  says, 
would  most  probably,  not  weigh  more  than  two  hun- 
dred pounds. 

BANANA  TREE,  a  tree  of  invaluable  utility  to  the 
inhabitants  of  some  tropical  countries.  This,  (says  St. 
Pierre)  in  the  opinion  oi  some,  is  the  most  useful  tree  in 
the  world,  because  its  fruit  makes  excellent  food,  with- 
out any  art  of  cookery;  having  a  most  agreeable  flavor, 
and  possessing  very  nutritious  qualities.  It  produces  a 
clusU-mf  sixty  or  four-score  fruit,  which  come  to  ma- 
turity all  at  once ;  but  it  pushes  out  shoots  of  every  dc- 


BANIAN  TREE— BANISERILE.  29 

gree  of  magnitude,  which  bear  in  succession,  and  at  all 
times.  Dampier  calls  this  the  king  of  trees,  and  affirms 
Jhat  multitudes  of  families  live,  between  the  tropics,  on 
this  pleasant,  wholesome,  and  nourishing  fruit,  which 
lasts  all  the  year  round,  and  stands  in  no  need  of  any 
of  the  arts  of  cookery. 

BANIAN  TREE,  or  Indian  Fig,  a  native  of  the 
East  Indies,  and  one  of  the  most  majestic  plants. 
Some  of  these  trees  are  of  amazing  size  and  vast  ex- 
tent, as  they  are  continually  increasing,  and  seem  to 
be  exempted  from  decay.  Every  branch  from  the 
main  body  throws  out  its  own  roots  ;  at  first  in  small 
tender  fibres,  several  yards  from  the  ground ;  these 
continually  grow  thicker  until  they  reach  the  surface, 
and  there  striking  in,  they  increase  to  large  trunks, 
and  become  parent-trees,  shooting  out  new  roots  from 
the  top  5  these  in  time  suspend  their  roots,  which, 
swelling  into  trunks,  produce  other  branches  5  thus 
continuing  in  a  state  of  progression  as  long  as  the 
earth  continues  her  sustenance.  One  of  these  trees, 
near  the  English  settlements  has,  in  the  aforemen- 
tioned manner,  multiplied  itself  into  three  hundred 
and  fifty  stems,  each  larger  than  English  elms;  and 
the  whole  forming  a  close  shade  sufficiently  extensive 
for  several  thousand  men  to  repose  under.  This 
delightful  pavilion  is  generally  filled,  overhead,  with 
green,  wood-pigeons,  doves,  peacocks,  and  a  variety  of 
leathered  songsters  5  and  crowded  with  families  of  mon- 
kies,  perform  ing  their  antic  tricks.  The  Hi  »doos  ven- 
erate the  banian  tree  as  an  emblem  of  the  Deity ,  from 
its  long  duration,  its  distended  arms,  and  overshadow- 
ing beneficence.— Emydop&di  a. 

BANISERILE,  a  negro  town,  the  capital  of  Dehti- 
la  in  Africa.  A  native  of  this  place  who  had  been  three 
years  absent,  and  arrived  in  company  with  Mungo 
Park,  invited  the  latter  to  go  with  him  to  his  house ; 
at  the  gate  of  which  the  negro's  friends  met  him,  with 
many  expressions  of  joy  at  his  return,  shaking  him  by 
the  hand,  embracing  him,  and  singing  and  dancing  be- 
fore him.  As  soon  as  he  (the  negro)  had  seated  him- 
self upon  a  seat  by  the  threshold  of  his  door,  a  youjif 
D  » 


30       BARBADOES—  BARBARY— • BAREIN. 

woman,  his  intended  bride,  brought  a  little  water  in  a 
calabash,  and  kneeling  down  before  him,  desired  him 
to  wash  his  hands ;  when  he  had  done  this,  the  girl, 
\vith  a  tear  of  joy  sparkling  in  her  eyes,  drank  the  wa- 
ier ;  this  being  considered  as  the  greatest  proof  she 
could  possibly  give  of  her  fidelity  and  attachment. — 
Park. 

BARBADOES,  one  of  the  British  West  India  isl- 
ands, twenty-one  miles  long,  and  fourteen  in  breadth. 
The  fertility  of  this  little  island  is  prodigious  ;  inso- 
much that  is  said  to  have  contained,  in  1670,  fifty 
thousand  whites,  and  a  hundred  thousand  blacks,  anj 
to  have  employed  sixty  thousand  tons  of  shipping.  Its 
population  is  greatly  decreased :  owing  considerably 
to  the  dreadful  hurricanes  with  which  it  lias  often  been 
yisited  :  one  of  which,  October  10,  If  80,  destroyed  no 
less  than  four  thousand  three  hundred  and  twenty-six 
of  the  inhabitants ;  the  force  of  the  wind  being  so 
great  as  to  lift  up  and  carry  several  paces,  some  pieces 
of  cannon.  Barbadoes  being  the  first  English  settle- 
ment in  the  West  Indies,  was  planted,  1625.  The  af- 
fecting story  of  Inkle  and  Yarico,  in  the  Spectator,  had 
Its  rise  in  this  island  ;  the  earliest  settlers  having  been 
notorious  for  kidnapping  the  natives,  and  selling  them 
into  slavery. 

BARBARY,  a  division  of  North  Africa ;  being  a  fer- 
tile region  along  the  Mediterranean,  lying  opposite  to 
Spain,  France  and  Italy,  and  divided  into  five  kingdoms, 
namely,  Morocco,  Fez,  Algiers,  Tunis  and  Tripoli. 
Could  we.  suppose  the  western  bason  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean sea  to  have  been  once  dry  land,  bating  a  lake, 
or  recipient  for  the  surrounding  rivers,  this  region 
(fturbary)  might  be  considered  as  a  part  of  Europe -$ 
as  it  i  possesses  much  more  of  the  European  than  the 
African  character. — >Rennel. 

BAREIN,  a  swift  footed  animal,  that  abounds  at 
Kamptskc'itka.  Bears  put  in  practice  a  remarkable 
stratagem  to  catch  these  animals,  which  run  too  swift 
for  them  to  expect  much  in  pursuing  them.  The  ba- 
teiua  herd  together  in  great  numbers,  at  the  bottu" 


BARILLH A— BARLEY— BARTHOLOMEW'S.  3  i 

precipices  ;  at  the  top  of  which  the  bear  conceals  him- 
self, and,  with  his  paws,  pushes  clown  upon  them  large 
pieces  of  the  rock.  If  he  perceives  that  he  has  killed 
or  maimed  any  of  the  flock,  he  descends  and  devours 
the  prej.  There  appears  to  be  a  peculiar  sagacity  in 
the  bear  of  this  country.  The  Kamptskadales  are  in- 
debted greatly  to  their  bears  not  only  for  their  food  and 
clothing,  but  for  their  medicines.  They  say  that  tlieir 
knowledge  of  the  medicinal  virtues  of  certain  plants 
was  obtained  by  their  ancestors,  from  observing  the 
use  made  of  them  by  bears,  when  sick  or  maimed, — 
Cookers  Voyage. 

,  BARILLHA,  a  plant,  whose  salts  are  used  in  manu- 
facturing glass.  When  this  plant  is  grown  to  its  pitch, 
it  is  cut  down,  and  let  dry  ;  afterwards  it  is  burnt  and 
calcined  in  pits,  like  lime  kilns,  dug  in  the  ground  for 
that  purpose ;  which  are  closely  covered  up  with  earth, 
so  that  no  air  may  come  at  the  lire.  The  inattei>  by 
these  means,  is  not  reduced  into  ashes  only,  but  is  made 
into  a  very  hard  stone,  like  rock  salt,  which  must  be 
broken  with  hammers  to  get  it  out. — Chambers. 

BARLEY,  a  common  grain,  and  highly  useful  both 
for  beer  and  for  food.  "  Barley,  (says  Count  Rum- 
ford)  will  thicken  and  change  to  a  jelly  much  more 
water  than  any  other  grain  with  which  we  are  ac- 
quainted, rice  even  not  excepted ;  and  I  have  found 
reason  to  conclude  from  the  result  of  common  experi- 
ments, which  in  the  course  of  several  years  have  been 
made  under  my  direction  in  the  public  kitchen"  in  the 
house  of  industry  at  Munich,  that  for  making  soups, 
barley  is  far  the  best  grain  that  can  be  used."  The 
Count  further  remarks :  "  Were  I  called  upon  to  give 
my  opinion  in  regard  to  the  comparitive  nutritiousness 
of  barley  meal  and  wheat  flour,  when  used  in  soups,  I 
should  not  hesitate  to  say  that  I  think  the  former  at 
least  three  or  four  times  as  nutritious  as  the  latter." 

BARTHOLOMEW'S,  a  day  consecrated  to  Bartho- 
lomew, one  of  the  saints  in  the  popish  calendar  :  it  ha* 
been  stained  by  one  of  the  most  wanton  and  bloody  mas- 
sacres that  ever  sliQC&eU  htunaoity.  Charles  IX.  of 


32  BASTINADO. 

France,  in  confederacy  with  his  mother,  Catharine  of 
Mcdicis,  the  Duke  of  Guise  and  other  leaders  of  the 
popish  party,  had  privately  planned  the  destruction  of 
the  French  protestants  throughout  the  kingdom,  by  a 
general  massacre.  This  infernal  plot  was  conducted 
with  the  utmost  secrecy;  arid  the  protestants  were  lull- 
ed into  a  fatal  security,  by  the  insidious  caresses  of  their 
murderers.  On  the  eve  of  St.  Bartholomew,  being 
August  24th,  1572,  in  the  midst  of  general  festivity 
throughout  the  city  of  Paris,  the  royal  guards  were  or- 
dered to  be  under  arms  :  the  ringing  of  a  bell  was  the 
signal ;  and  the  catholic  citizens,  who  had  been  secret- 
ly prepared  by  their  leaders  for  such  a  scene,  zealously 
seconded  the  execution  of  the  soldiery,  imbruing  their 
bauds,  without  remorse,  in  the  blood  of  their  neighbors, 
of  their  companions,  and  even  of  their  relations.  Per- 
sons of  every  condition,  age  and  sex,  who  were  suspect- 
ed of  adhering  to  the  reformed  opinions,  were  involved 
in  one  undistinguished  ruin.  Charles,  accompanied  by 
his  mother,  beheld  from  a  window  this  horrid  massacre  ; 
the  king  himself  inciting  the  fury  of  the  assassins,  by 
firing  upon  the  fugitives  that  passed  him,  and  frequent- 
ly crying  kill,  kill  I  In  Paris,  and  other  parts  of  the 
kingdom,  sixty  thousand  protestants  (some  of  them  men 
of  the  first  rank)  are  supposed  to  have  been  massacred 
on  that  dreadful  e\rQ.~ltussell. 

BASTINADO,  a  cruel  punishment  practised  in  the 
Turkish  dominions,  and  often  inflicted  upon  the  inno- 
cent, with  a  view  of  squeezing  money  from  them.  The 
victim  is  thrown  upon  his  belly,  and  his  legs  raised  up, 
so  that  the  soles  01  his  feet  are  horizontal.  A  chain  is 
then  thrown  round  both  feet  above  the  ancles,  which 
are  twisted  together  5  and  two  fellows  hold  up  the  feet, 
by  means  of  a  stick  that  is  fastened  to  the  chain.  Thus 
prepared,  the  blows  upon  the  soles  of  the  feet  com- 
mence, and  dve  excrutiating  pain.  There  have  been 
instances  of  me  bastinado  having  been  repeated  for 
three  days  successively,  to  the  number  of  three  thou- 
sand r  after  which  the  feet  are  generally  left  use - 
•'"')!•  life  5  ami  it  often  happens  that  before  they  have 
received  bix  hundred  strokes,  the  blood  gushes  from 
tkeir  mouth  and  nose?  and  they  die  either  under  or  soon 


T5ATAVIA— BATON— BAVARIAN  SOLDIERS     33 

after  the  operation.  When  the  punsihment  of  the  bas- 
tinado is  inflicted  on  an  alien,  never  so  unjustly,  and 
merely  for  the  sake  of  extorting  money  from  him,  and 
the  sufferer  complains  to  a  magistrate  of  the  higher  or- 
der, all  he  can  get  from  him  is  this  reply,  "  Mm  Jillah, 
Macktub,  Muckkader !  that  is,  it  is  from  God,  it  is 
written  in  the  book  of  fate,  which  cannot  be  altered." — 
Antes. 

BATAVIA,  a  sea  port  town  in  the  island  of  Java  ;  it 
is  a  wealthy  mart,  but  extremely  unhealthy  ;  insomuch 
that  but  very  few  Europeans  who  reside  here  for  any 
considerable  time,  ever  return.  This  Dutch  town  lies 
upon  the  most  frequented  road  from  Indostan  to  China 
and  Japan,  and  is  nearly  about  midway  upon  that  road. 
Almost  all  the  ships  too  that  sail  between  Europe  and 
China,  touch  at  Batavia.  And  it  is,  over  and  above  all 
this,  the  centre  and  principal  mart  of  what  is  called  the 
country  trade  of  the  East  Indies  ;  not  only  that  part  of 
it  which  is  carried  on  by  Europeans,  but  of  that  which 
is  carried  on  by  the  native  Indians  ;  and  vessels  naviga- 
ted by  the  inhabitants  of  China  and  Japan,  of  Tonquin, 
Malacca,  and  Cochin-China,  are  frequently  to  be  seen 
in  its  port.  [Batavia  has  fallen  into  the  possession  of 
Great  Britain}.— Jldam  Smith. 

BATON,  an  instrument  for  flagellation  in  China ;  it 
is  a  piece  of  bamboo,  a  little  flatted,  broad  at  the  bot- 
tom, and  polished  at  the  upper  extremity.  Every  man- 
darin has  authority  to  use  it  at  pleasure,  when  any  one 
forgets  to  salute  him,  or  when  he  administers  public 
justice.  The  offender  who  has  undergone  the  flagel- 
lation of  the  baton  on  his  naked  body,  must  then  throw 
himself  upon  his  knees  before  the  mandarin,  incline  his 
body  three  times  to  the  earth,  and  thank  him  for  the 
care  he  has  taken  of  his  education. — Winterbotham. 

BAVARIAN  SOLDIERS.  Count  Rumford  relates, 
that  the  soldiers  of  the  Duke  of  Bavaria  in  Germany, 
being  provided  with  clothing  by  the  government,  victu- 
alled themselves,  living  on  soups  5  that  the  sum  total  of 
a  soldier's  allowance  for  wages  and  victualling,  was 
only  two  pence  three  farthings  sterling  a  day  $  that 


34  BAY— BEAR. 

tiro  fifths  of  his  pay  remained  as  a  saving  to  the  soldier 
after  lie  had  defrayed  all  the  expenses  of  his  own  per- 
sonal subsistence  ;  that  those  soldiers  are  composed  of 
some  of  the  finest  and  strongest  men  in  the  world, 
whose  countenances  showed  the  most  evident  marks  of 
ruddy  health,  and  perfect  contentment ;  and  that  there 
were  no  soldiers  in  Europe  whose  situation  was  more 
comfortable.  If  this  statement  of  Count  Rumford  be 
correct,  it  would  cost  less  to  victual  an  army  of  four  or 
five  thousand  men  in  Germany,  than  of  one  thousand  in 
the  United  States. 

BAY,  an  arm  of  the  sea  running  up  into  the  main 
land.  Bays,  with  good  harbors,  greatly  promote  the 
inland  navigation  and  commerce  of  a  country  :  nor 
does  any  country  possess  this  advantage  more  amply 
than  the  United  States  of  America.  Within  this  ter- 
ritory, besides  innumerable  small  bays,  are  Casco,  Pe- 
nobscot,  Machias,  Saco,  and  Passamaquoddy  bays  $ 
Massachusetts  bay,  between  Cape  Ann  and  Cape  Cod; 
York  bay,  which  spreads  to  the  southward  before  the 
city  of  New-York  ;  Delaware  bay,  between  Cape  May 
and  Cape  Henlopen  ;  and  Che  bay,  between 

Cape  Charles  and  Cape  Henry.  The  largest  and  most 
northern  gulf  or  b«y,  that  has  yet  been  discovered  in 
North  America,  is  Baffin's  bay,  which  lies  between  the 
70th  and  80th  degrees  of  north  latitude,  and  wras  dis- 
covered by  Mr.  Baffin,  an  Englishman,  in  the  year 
1632,  while  he  was  attempting  to  find  a  north  west  pas- 
sage from  Europe  to  the  Pacific  Ocean  ;  this  bay,  on 
the  south  side  of  Davis's  straits,  has  a  communication 
with  Hudson's  bay,  through  a  cluster  of  islands.  The 
bay  of  Fundy,  which  washes  Cape  Sable,  is  remarka- 
ble for  the  rapidity  and  height  of  the  tides,  that  rise,  in 
different  places,  thirty,  forty,  and  sixty  feet. 

BEAR,  a  savage  and  solitary  animal  which  lives  in 

is  and  unfrequented  places,  and  chooses  its  den  in 

LQst  gloomy  and  retire* I  parts  of  the  forest,  or  in 

the  mos(  dangerous  and  inaccessible  precipices  of  un- 

«i  mountains  ;  it  retires  alone  to  its  den  about 

the  cud  of  autumn,  at  which  time  it  is  exceedingly  fat, 

and  lives  for  several  week*  in  a  state  of  total  inactivity 


BEAUTY.  3j 

and  abstinence  from  food.  During  this  time  the  female 
brings  forth  her  young  and  suckles  them.  She  makes 
for  them  a  warm  bed,  and  attends  them  with  unremit- 
ting care  during  four  months,  and  in  all  that  time  al- 
lows herself  but  very  little  nourishment.  The  cubs 
are  round  and  shapeless  5  and  have  scarce  any  resem- 
blance of  what  the  creature  is  when  arrived  at  maturity. 
In  the  spring,  the  old  bears,  attended  with  their  young, 
come  out  of  their  retreats,  lean,  and  almost  famished 
by  the  long  abstinence  of  their  confinement.  They  as- 
cend trees  with  surprising  agility,  keep  themselves 
firm  on  the  branches  with  one  paw,  and  with  the  other 
collect  the  fruit.  Their  chosen  food  is  corn,  sweet  ap- 
ples, acorns,  and  nuts.  When  tamed,  the  bear  may  be 
taught  to  walk  upright,  to  dance,  to  lay  hold  of  a  pole 
with  its  paws,  and  perform  various  tricks  to  entertain 
the  multitude.  According  to  Doctor  Williams,  the 
bear  is  frequently  to  be  met  with,  and  arrives  to  a  great 
size  in  the  state  of  Vermont;  one  having  been  killed 
there  which  weighed  four  hundred  and  fifty-six  pounds. 

BEAUTY,  a  pleasing  combination  of  complexion, 
features,  and  form.  History  and  travels  inform  us, 
however,  that  opposite  kinds  of  forms,  features,  and 
complexion,  have  been  esteemed  as  beautiful,  in  differ- 
ent countries,  and  among  different  nations.  A  nose  fall- 
ing in  a  straight  line  from  the  forehead,  without  the 
smallest  sinking  between  the  eyes,  was  esteemed  the 
perfection  of  beauty  among  the  ancient  Greeks  :  this 
form  they  gave  to  the  nose  of  the  Grecian  Venus.  The 
old  Romans  praised  their  ladies  for  their  flaxen  locks, 
and  even  for  the  redness  of  their  hair  ;  also  for  narrow 
foreheads,  and  eye-brows  joining  in  tha  middle.  In 
Tonquin,  black  teeth  are  thought  a  great  ornament  : 
also  red  teeth,  and  hair  painted  white,  give  beauty  its 
highest  charms  among  the  people  of  Thibet.  The  pas- 
sion for  coloured  teeth  obtains  likewise  in  China  and 
Japan  ;  where,  for  a  complete  beauty,  the  lady  must 
have  little  eyes  nearly  closed,  and  feet  so  cramped  and 
small,  that  she  hobbles  rather  than  walks.  With  the 
Moors,  beauty  would  seem  to  mean  magnitude  of  bulk  ; 
for,  according  to  Park,  the  mothers  cram  their  girls  to 
make  them  plump  and  large.  Among  the  inhabitants 


36  BEAVER. 

of  some  of  the  western  parts  of  Africa,  a  flat  nose,  thick 
lips,  and  jet  black  complexion,  are  considered  as  among 
the  highest  personal  charms  5  while  some  of  the  Flori- 
da Indians  flatten  the  heads  of  their  children,  in  order- 
to  render  them  conformable  with  their  ideas  of  beauty. 
In  short,  while  the  Europeans  and  Anglo-Americans 
paint  the  arch-fiend  black  to  render  him  hideous,  the 
negroes  of  Guinea  paint  him  white  for  the  same  reason. 

BEAVER,  a  native  of  America,  valuable  for  its  fur 
and  castor,  the  latter  of  which  is  contained  in  four  bags 
in  the  lower  belly.  This  animal  is  between  three  and 
four  feet  in  length,  and  weighs  from  forty  to  sixty 
pounds.  His  head  is  like  that  of  a  rat,  inclined  to  the 
earth  5  bis  back  rises  in  an  arch  between  his  head  and 
tail  ;  his  teeth  are  long,  broad,  sharp,  and  projecting 
two  inches  beyond  the  jaw.  and  are  curved  like  a  car- 
penter's gouge.  In  his  fore-feet  the  toes  are  separate, 
as  if  designed  to  answer  the  purposes  of  lingers  and 
hands  :  his  hind-feet  are  accommodated  with  webs, 
suited  to  the  purpose  of  swimming.  ..His  tail  is  a  foot 
long,  an  inch  thick,  and  live  or  six  inches  broad  :  it  is 
covered  with  scales,  and  with  a  skin  similar  to  that  of 
a  fish.  From  the  necessity  of  his  nature  he  spends  a 
part  of  his  time  in  the  water,  and  a  part  of  it  upon  the 
Sand  ;  and  he  seeks  a  dwelling  that  is  most  suitable  for 
these  opposite  modes  of  living.  These  amphibious 
animals  choose  a  convenient  situation  for  a  dam,  cut 
down  trees  with  their  teeth,  gnaw  oft' the  branches  from 
the  trunk,  cut  it  into  convenient  and  equal  lengths,  drag 
the  pieces  of  wood  to  the  stream,  and  swim  with  them 
to  the  place  where  the  dam  is  to  be  built.  They  sink 
one  end  of  the  stakes,  and  the  other  end  they  raise,  fix 
and  secure;  they  form  earth  into  a  kind  of  mortar  with 
their  feet  and  tail^,  bring  it  in  their  mouths,  and  spread 
it  over  the  vacancies  between  the  stakes,  twisting  in 
and  working  up  with  this  slime  the  small  branches  of 
1rcos  5  minding  always  to  leave  sluices  near  the  middle 
of  the  dam,  for  the  redundant  waters  to  pass  oft".  As 
soon  as  they  have  completed  their  dam,  which  some- 
is  extends  a  hundred  feet  in  length,  and  flows  sev- 
eral hundred  acres,  their  next  care  is  to  build  them- 
sel\  cs  houses.  These  houses  are  built?  with  wood  and 


BEET— BELL.  37 

slime,  upon  piles  or  strong  stakes,  along  the  borders  of 
their  pond,  and  are  of  an  oval  form,  gradually  tapering 
from  the  bottom  to  the  top.  They  are  never  less  than 
two  stories,  generally  three  and  sometimes  four :  each 
of  these  huts  has  two  doors;  one  on  the  land  side  to 
enable  them  to  go  out  and  procure  provisions  by  land, 
and  the  other,  under  water,  below  where  it  freezes,  to 
preserve  their  communication  with  the  pond.  The 
male  and  female  pair,  and  live  in  families ;  the  small- 
est hut  containing  one  family,  and  the  largest  several. 
A  more  full  account  of  the  sagacity  and  social  nature 
of  this  wonderful  animal  may  be  seen  in  doctor  Wil- 
liams's  ingenious  history  of  Vermont. 

BEET,  a  valuable  esculent  root,  easily  raised,  and 
considerably  used  in  this  country.  Jts  juice  is  said  to 
be  capable  of  producing  excellent  sugar,  and  in  great 
plenty.  Mr.  Achard  has  found,  that,  from  that  kind  of 
beet  called  scarcity  root,  sugar  may  be  obtained  in  such 
plenty,  that,  as  he  affirms,  the  sugar  of  this  origin  might 
be  afforded  at  five  pence  sterling  per  pound.  The  Prus- 
sian government  offered  Mr.  Achard  six  thousand  dol- 
lars as  a  reward  for  his  invention,  if  he  could  prove  it  to 
be  equal  to  the  uses  ascribed  to  it,  and  would  give  it  up 
at  once  to  that  government.' — JV*.  Lon.  Itev. 

BELL,  a  machine  hung  in  steeples  of  churches ; 
made  of  a  compound  metal  of  tin  and  copper,  or  pew- 
ter and  copper,  in  the  proportion  of  twenty  pounds  of 
pewter,  or  twenty- three  pounds  of  tin,  to  one  hundred 
weight  of  copper.  Bells  are  said  to  have  been  invented 
by  Paulinus,  bishop  of  Nola  in  Naples,  about  the  year 
400  ;  they  were  first  known  in  France  in  550  5  and  were 
introduced  into  churches  in  England  about  the  year 
909.  The  largest  bell  in  the  known  world  is  in  the  ca- 
thedral of  Moscow  in  Russra.  It  was  presented  by  the 
empress  Ann  5  and,  (according  to  Mr.  Walker)  weighs 
four  hundred  and  thirty -two  thousand  pounds.  In  the 
dark  ages  of  popery,  bells  were  baptised,  and  anointed 
with  holy  oil  ;  they  were  also  exorcised  by  the  bishop, 
from  a  belief,  that  in  consequence  of  those  ceremonies, 
the  bells  would  have  power  to  drive  the  devil  out  of  the 
air.  Hence  it  was  their  custom  to  riii^  bells  when  it 
E 


58  BENGAL— BERMUDAS. 

thundered  in  order  to  drive  oft'  "  the  prince  of  the  pow- 
er of  the  air;"  and  also  when  any  of  their  communion 
were  dying  that  the  devil  might  be  so  astounded  at  the 
noise  of  the  holy  machine  as  to  give  the  departing  soul 
an  opportunity  to  get  the  start  of  him.  The  popish 
book  called  the  Golden  Legend,  remarked,  "  The  evil 
Spyrites  that  be  in  the  regyon  of  the  ayre,  doubt  motcli 
(that  is,  are  much  perplexed)  when  they  here  the  bells 


BENGAL,  a  country  in  India  ;  situated  on  each  side 
of  the  river  Ganges,  and  being  under  the  sovereignty  of 
the  English  East  India  Company.  Its  capital  is  Calcut- 
ta, lying  on  the  west  arm  of  the  Ganges,  one  hundred 
miles  from  its  mouth.  This  country  has  been  called  the 
Paradise  of  India.  Such  are  its  advantages  of  soil  and 
climate,  that  the  inhabitants  of  Bengal  are  able  to  sub- 
sist by  less  labor  than  the  people  of  any  other  country  in 
the  known  world.  Rice,  which  forms  the  basis  of  tneir 
food,  is  produced  in  such  plenty,  (always  two  and  riot  un- 
frequently  three  crops  in  a  year)  that  two  pounds  are  of- 
ten sold  for  a  farthing.  Mop  pieces  of  cotton  and  silk 
are  manufactured  iti  Bengal,  than  in  any  other  country 
of  Indostan  of  three  times  the  same  extent.  The  agents 
of  the  British  East  India  Company,  by  inciting  the  na- 
tives to  civil  wars,  by  monopolizing  pro  visions  and  there- 
by causing  most  dreadful  and  extensive  famines,  have 
rendered  this  delightful  country  a  scene  of  distress  and 
wretchedness ;  and  have  changed  one  third  of  it,  from 
extreme  populousness,  to  a  mere  desart,  inhabited  by 
wild  beasts.  "The  civil  wars,  (says  colonel  Dow,  a 
Scotch  officer  in  India)  to  which  our  violent  desire  of 
creating  nabobs  gives  rise,  were  attended  with  tragic;! i 
effects.  Bengal  was  depopulated  by  every  species  of 
public  distress.  In  the  space  of  six  years,  half  the  great 
cities  of  this  opulent  kingdom  were  rendered  desolate ; 
the  most  fertile  fields  in  the  world  laid  waste,  and  f.ve 
millions  of  harmless  and  industrious  people  were  either 
expelled  or  destroyed." 

!iMU!)AS,  a  cluster  of  small  islands,  computed 
jibout  four  hundred  in  number,  situated  about  two 
hundred  leagues  from  Cape  Hatteras  iu  Carolina: 


BERRING'S  STRAIT—BERWICK.  33 

Deceived  their  name  from  John  Bermudas,  a  Spaniard, 
who  discovered  them.  The  air  is  pure  and  salubrious, 
and  fruits  of  various  kinds  grow  in  luxurious  plenty  and 
perfection ;  but  the  islands  being  surrounded  with  rocks 
and  shoals  are  very  difficult  of  access.  It  was  this  cir- 
cumstance, perhaps,  that  gave  these  islands,  in  former 
times,  the  reputation  of  being  enchanted.  Jordan,  in  a 
publication  in  16 15,  called  "*N*ews from  Bermuda,"  says, 
"  Whereas  it  is  reported  that  this  land  of  Bermuda,  with 
the  islands  round  about  it,  are  enchanted,  and  kept  by 
evil  and  wicked  spirits,  it  is  a  most  vile  and  false  report.'' 

BERRING'S  STRAIT,  a  narrow  sea,  between  the 
GOth  and  70th  degrees  of  north  latitude,  and  took  it& 
name  from  captain  Berring,  who  first  discovered  it  in 
the  year  17S8  :  it  separates  Asia  from  the  American 
continent;  these  two  continents  approaching  within 
forty  miles  of  each  other.  It  has  been  ascertained,  that, 
to  the  north  of  this  strait  the  Asiatic  shore  tends  rapid- 
ly  to  the  westward,  while  the  American  shore  stretches 
nearly  in  a  northerly  direction,  till  at  the  distance  of 
about  four  or  five  degrees,  the  continents  are  joined 
by  solid  and  impenetrable  bonds  of  ice.  The  two  con- 
tinents are  now  known  to  approach  so  near  to  each  oth- 
er, that,  even  throwing  out  of  view  the  probability  of 
passing  from  one  to  the  other  on  the  ice,  the  passage 
might  easily  have  been  effected  by  means  of  canoes,  o* 
small  boats.—- Miller. 

BERWICK,  a  small  town  on  the  borders  of  England 
and  Scotland  :  it  stands  on  the  north  or  Scottish  side  of 
the  river  Tweed,  near  the  sea  ;  it  is  memorable  for  the 
following  extraordinary  incidents  :  In  the  year  1333, 
while  Edward  III.  filled  the  throne  of  England,  and  Ba- 
liol  was  king  of  Scotland,  the  English  monarch  besieged 
Berwick  with  a  powerful  force.  He  held  in  custody 
the  eldest  son,  together  with  a  younger  son,  of  sir  Al- 
exander Seton,  the  governor  of  the  town  ;  the  former 
as  a  hostage,  and  the  other  as  a  prisoner  of  war;  and 
contrary  to  all  good  faith,  honor  and  humanity,  he 
threatened  the  governor,  that  if  he  refused  immediately 
to  surrender  the  town  he  would  hang  up  his  two  sons  in 
the  front  of  the  ramparts.  Remonstrances  and  entrea- 


40    BETEL— BEZOAR  STONE— BIRCH  TREE. 

ties  were  offered  in  vain.  Edward  ordered  a  gibbet  to 
be  erected  in  full  view  of  the  town,  to  carry  into  execu- 
tion his  most  detestable  threat.  The  trial  was  too  great 
almost  for  human  nature  to  sustain,  Seton,  nobly  strug- 
gling between  contending  impulses  that  put  every  sen- 
timent to  the  rack,  would,  it  appeared,  have  yielded  to 
nature,  and  saved  the  lives  of  his  children,  by  sacrificing 
his  country's  honor  and  his  own,  had  not  his  wife,  the 
own  mother  of  the  devoted  victims,  with  a  degree  of  he- 
roism worthy  of  a  Roman  matron,  stepped  forward,  and 
with  the.  most  forcible  eloquence  argued  to  support  his 
principles,  and  sustain  his  trembling  soul ;  and,  while 
the  bias  of  natural  aftection  yet  inclined  him.  to  relax, 
she  withdrew  him  from  the  shocking  spectacle,  that  he 
might  preserve  his  rectitude,  though  at  the  inestimable 
expense  of  the  lives  of  their  sons.  Edward  with  a  re- 
lentless heart  put  them  both  to  death,  and  Seton  kept 
possession  of  the  town. — Fuller. 

BETEL,  a  plant  that,  in  the  eastern  countries,  is 
chewed  like  tobacco.  It  grows  like  ivy,  twisting  itself 
around  trees;  its  leaves  are  long  and  sharp -pointed,  broad 
towards  the  stalk,  and  of  a  pale  green.  The  Chinese 
chew  these  leaves  continually,  pretending  that  they 
strengthen  the  gums,  comfort  the  brain,  expel  bile, 
nourish  the  glands  of  the  throat,  and  serve  as  a  preser- 
vative against  the  asthma,  a  disease  very  common  in  th& 
southern  provinces  of  China. — Winterbotham. 

BEZOAR  STONE,  a  substance  of  great  efficacy 
against  the  poison  of  serpents.  The  best  are  those 
which  are  found  in  the  bladder  of  the  antelope  :  the 
dealers  say  they  are  all  derived  from  that  animal.  These 
men  suffer  themselves  to  be  stung  in  the  finger  by  an 
enormous  black  scorpion,  which  they  irritate  bv  striking 
it  on  the  back.  The  wounded  part  is  then  made  to  bleed 
by  pressing  it,  and  they  immediately  apply  the  bezoar. 
After  a  few  minutes  they  pull  away  the  stone  ;  and  the 
wound  has  no  swelling  or  appearance  of  irritation,  and 
is  perfectly  cured. — Grandpre. 

BIRCH  TREE.  This  tree  of  which  there  is  a  variety 
of  kinds,  extends  in  northern  latitudes  beyond  any 


BIRDMEN.  41 

tree  else  ;  and  at  the  extremity  of  vegetation  spreads 
its  branches  on  the  ground,  and,  as  to  the  dwarfish  spe- 
cies, does  not  rise  a  foot  in  height  when  of  a  considera- 
ble age.  The  birch  is  so  necessary  to  the  Laplanders, 
that  they  could  scarcely  exist  without  it.  Of  the  outer 
bark,  when  cut  into  thongs  and  interwoven,  they  make 
fishing  shoes,  ropes,  baskets,  and  many  other  utensils ; 
and  also  of  it  contrive  a  cloak,  fastened  close  to  the  head, 
which  is  an  excellent  defence  against  the  rain.  The 
branches  of  the  dwarf-birch,  piled  up  regularly,  and  co- 
vered with  the  skin  of  rein-deer,  form  the  Laplanders 
bed.  He  also  burns  this  shrub,  to  drive  away  his  chief 
annoyance  the  gnats,  by  a  constant  smoke  which  per- 
vades his  building  throughout,  as  he  has  no  chimnev. 
With  the  bark  of  the  birch  the  Tartars  cover  their  hats, 
and  construct  portable  boats,  cradles  and  other  furni- 
ture. The  North  American  Indians  make  their  canoes 
of  the  same  material,  and  draw  the  plans  of  their  trav- 
els on  it.  The  bark  of  a  certain  kind  of  birch  exhibits 
a  luminous  appearance,  resembling  phosphorus  5  emit- 
ting a  light  strong  enough  to  read  by  in  a  darkened 
room.  In  times  of  remote  antiquity  books  and  records 
were  written  on  the  inner  bark  of  birch.  St.  Pierre,  in 
his  Studies  of  Nature,  says— The  bark  of  a  certain  kind 
of  birch  consists  of  an  accumulation  of  ten  or  twelve 
sheets,  white  and  thin,  like  paper,  the  place  of  which  it 
supplied  to  the  ancients.  If  we  may  depend  on  the  tes- 
timony of  Pliny  and  Plutarch,  there  were  found  at  Rome 
four  hundred  years  after  the  death  of  Numa,  the  books 
which  that  great  king  had  commanded  to  be  deposited 
with  his  body  in  the  tomb.  The  body  was  utterly  con- 
sumed :  but  the  books,  which  treated  of  philosophy  and 
religion,  were  in  such  a  state  of  preservation,  that  Peti- 
lius  the  pretor  undertook  to  read  them  by  command  of 
the  senate.  They  were  written  on  the  bark  of  the  birch 
tree.  So  great  a  benefit  to  multitudes  of  the  human 
race  has  Providence  made  this  tree,  which,  in  our  age 
and  country,  is  of  little  estimation. 

BIRDMEN.  There  are  men  on  the  northern  coasts 
and  islands  of  Europe,  and  particularly  in  the  island  of 
St.  Kilda,  who  get  their  living  by  catching  the  sea  fowls 
that  make  their  nests  on  the  steep  side  ot  stupendously 

£4     *v 


4£  BIRDS— BISON. 

high  rocks.  Some  of  those  rocks,  hanging  over  the  sea, 
are  a  perpendicular  wall  of  solid  stone,  ten  times  higher 
than  our  tallest  steeples :  in  the  sides  are  large  and  small 
cavities,  where  the  sea  fowls,  in  innumerable  multitudes,, 
build  their  nests.  The  birdman  having  a  rope  five  or 
six  feet  long,  makes  it  fast  about  his  waist  and  between 
his  legs,  so  that  he  can  sit  on  it ;  and  five  or  six  men, 
standing  upon  the  top  of  the  rock,  let  him  down.  When 
he  has  come  to  the  holes  of  the  rocks  where  the  birds 
are,  he  creeps  in  among  them,  loosening  himself  from 
the  rope  ;  and  after  he  has  killed  as  many  fowls  as  he 
things  fit,  he  ties  them  up  in  a  bundle,  and  fastening 
himself  again  to  the  rope,  makes  a  signal  for  them 
above  to  pull  him  up. — 'Goldsmith. 

BIRDS.  Of  birds,  or  fowls  of  the  air,  there  are 
known  to  be  nearly  two  thousand  kinds  in  the  different 
parts  of  the  earth.  The  species  of  birds  arranged  av.d 
described  by  Linseus,  amounted  to  near  a  thousand. 
Since  that  time  the  number  has  been  more  than  doubled 
by  the  inquiries  of  subsequent  ornithologists.  Though 
birds  in  general  have  less  sagacity  than  quadrupeds, 
they  often  discover  a  surprising;  degree  of  cunning  and 
artifice.  Rapacious  birds  uniformly  endeavor  to  rise 
higher  than  tlieir  prey,  that  they  may  have  an  opportu- 
nity of  darting  forcibly  upon  it  with  their  pounces.  To 
counteract  their  artifices,  nature  has  endowed  the  small- 
er and  more  innocent  species  of  bints  with  many  arts  of 
defence.  When  a  hawk  appears,  the  small  birds»  if 
they  find  it  convenient,  conceal  themselves  in  the  hedg- 
es or  brush  wood.  When  deprived  of  this  opportuni- 
ty, they,  often  in  great  numbers,  seem  to  follow  the 
liawk,  and  to  expose  themselvres  unnecessarily  to  tlan- 
ger 5  while,  in  fact,  by  their  numbers,  their  perpetual 
es  of  direction,  and  their  uniform  endeavors  to 
;.i)ove  him,  they  perplex  the  hawk  to  such  a  degree, 
\\-Aii  he  is  unable  to  fix  upon  a  single  object ;  and  after 
exerting  all  his  art  and  address,  lie  is  frequently  obliged 
50  relinquish  the  pursuit. — Miller,  Smelae. 

BISON,  a  species  of  cow,  with  a  hump  between  it* 
shoulders  with  a  long  mane,  and  a  beard  under  its  chin. 
VWds  breed  of  cows  is  found  iu  all  tiic  southern  pair 


BIRMINGHAM— BITTERN.  43 

the  world  ;  throughout  the  vast  continent  of  India  :  and 
throughout  Africa,  from  Mount  Atlas  to  the  Cape  of 
Good -Hope.  The  bison  breed  is  more  expert  and  do- 
cile than  our  species  of  cows  ;  they  are  nimble-footed, 
and  supply  the  place  of  horses  ;  and  when  they  qarry 
burdens,  they  bend  their  knees  like  the.  camel  to  take 
them  up  or  set  them  down.  The  regard  for  this  animal, 
in  India,  lias  degenerated  into  a  blind  adoration  5  and  the 
Indian  feels  sure  of  paradise  if  he  dies  with  the  tail  of 
this  cow  in  his  hand.  The  extreme  usefulness  of  the 
animal  led  them  first  to  prize  it  very  highly,  and  then 
to  adore  it.  With  the  Hottentots,  the  bison  cow  is  taught 
to  tend  their  sheep,  which  it  does  with  wonderful  ex- 
pertness  and  fidelity  ;  and  is  also  taught  to  accompany 
them  in  war,  and  tight  their  enemies  $  whom  it  furiously 
gores  with  its  horns,  and  tramples  under  foot.  These 
animals  were  once  exceedingly  numerous  in  the  western 
parts  of  Virginia  and  Pennsylvania  ;  and  so  late  as  the 
year  1766,  herds  of  four  hundred  were  frequently  seen 
in  Kentucky,  and  thence  to  the  Mississippi ;  they  are 
likewise  common  about  some  parts  of  Hudson's  Bay.—* 
Goldsmith,  Winterbotham. 

BIRMINGHAM,  a  celebrated  manufacturing  town 
in  England  \  lying  at  the  distance  of  one  Hundred  and 
sixteen  miles  from  London.  In  the  work  of  cutlers  and 
locksmiths,  in  all  the  toys  which  are  made  of  the  coarser 
metals,  and  in  all  those  goods  which  are  commonly 
known  by  the  name  of  Birmingham  and  Sheffield  ware. 
there  is  such  a  cheapness  as  to  astonish  the  workmen  of 
every  other  part  of  Europe,  who  in  many  cases  acknow- 
ledge that  they  can  produce  no  work  of  equal  goodness 
for  double,  or  even  for  triple  the  price,  in  the  manu- 
factures of  Birmingham  alone,  the  quantity  of  gold  and 
silver  annually  employed  in  gilding  and  plating,  is  said 
to  amount  to  more  than  fifty  thousand  pounds  sterling. — • 
Mam  Smith. 

BITTERN,  or  Mght  Raven,  a  water  fowl  that  chief- 
ly haunts  the  sedgy  sides  of  unfrequented  rivers.  It  is 
of  a  palish  yellow,  spotted  and  barred  with  black*.  Its 
•windpide  is  fitted  to  produce  the  sound  for  which  it  is 
remarkable.  This  sound  is  like  the  interrupted  bellow- 


44  BITUMEN— BLACK. 

ing  of  a  bull,  but  hollo wer  and  louder,  and  is  heard  at  a 
mile's  distance,  as  if  issuing  from  some  formidable  crea- 
ture at  the  bottom  of  the  waters.  It  hides  in  the  hedg- 
es, by  day,  and  begins  its  call  in  the  evening,  booming 
six  or  eight  times,  and  then  discontinuing  for  ten  or 
twenty  minutes  to  renew  the  same  sound.  This  bird 
is  thought  by  the  ignorant  to  be  the  foreteller  of  calam- 
ity and  death  ;  and  if  it  happen  to  set  up  a  scream  near 
a  village,  it  affects  the  inhabitants  with  terror ;  and  if  any 
person  in  the  neighborhood  chance  to  die  soon  after- 
wards, it  is  believed  that  the  night -raven  had  foretold 
the  event. — Goldsmith. 

BITUMEN,  a  kind  of  pitch,  being  an  exceedingly 
strong  cement ;  of  which  there  was,  according  to  Pliny, 
great  plenty  in  Assyria.  This  was  the  slime  used  in 
building  the  tower  of  Babel :  with  this,  Herodotus  says, 
the  walls  of  Babylon  were  cemented.  It  is  thought  to 
be  the  asphaltes,  which,  as  Suidas,  says,  being  mixed 
with  bricks  and  small  stones,  the  whole  becomes  as  hard 
as  iron.— "Orion. 

BLACK,  the  colour  of  the  robe  of  night.  Beinard- 
ine  St.  Pierre  contends,  that  ivhite  increases  the  intensi- 
ty of  the  rays  of  the  sun,  while  black  weakens  it ;  that 
white  hats  in  summer,  more  expose  the  head  than  black 
i  and  that,  whitening  the  inside  of  apartments,  by 
increasing  the  reverberation  of  the  rays  of  light,  increas- 
es the  heat,  and  injures  the  eyes.  He  argues  in  proof 
of  these  principles,  that  animals  whiten  in  winter,  to- 
wards the  north,  in  proportion  as  the  sun  withdraws 
from  them,  and  that  those  of  the  south  assume  dark  and 
dusky  tints,  as  the  sun  approaches  them ;  that  negroes, 
of  a  jet  black,  easily  bear  such  an  intensely  hot  sun  as 
is  found  insupportable  by  people  of  a  white  skin  ;  and 
that,  in  the  Isle  of  France,  a  country  extremely  hot, 
they  mitigate  the  heat  of  their  rooms,  not  by  white- 
washing, but  by  using  a  sable -coloured  wood  for  wain- 
scoting. Doctor  Franklin,  on  the  other  hand,  maintain- 
at,  on  philosophical  principles,  black  clothes,  black 
hats,  &c.  arc  not  so  proper  for  a  hot  sunny  climate,  or 
for  the  summer  season,  as  white  ones.  This  he  un- 
dertook to  prove  by  several  experiments  /  one  of  which 


BLACK-OAK— BLOOP-HOUND—BOA.      4* 
/ 

was  the  following.  "  Try,"  says  the  Doctor,  "  to  fire 
paper  with  a  burning  glass  :  if  it  is  white,  you  will  not 
easily  burn  it ;  but  if  you  bring  the  focus  to  a  black 
spot,  or  upon  letters,  written  or  printed,  the  paper  will 
immediately  be  on  tire  under  the  letters."  Public  opin- 
ion is,  in  this  instance,  on  the  side  of  the  latter  of  these 
celebrated  philosophers. 

BLACK-OAK,  a  large  tree  of  the  American  forests. 
Many  of  the  black-oaks  in  Georgia,  measure  ten  and 
eleven  feet  diameter,  five  feet  above  the  ground  ; 
whence  they  ascend  perfectly  straight,  with  a  gradual 
taper,  forty  or  fifty  feet  to  the  limbs.  The  bark  of  this 
species  of  oak  is  found  to  afford  a  valuable  yellow  dye. 
This  tree  is  common  in  Pennsylvania,  New-Jersey, 
New-York,  and  New-England. — Bartram* 

BLOOD-HOUND,  a  dog  of  great  use,  and  of  high 
esteem  among  the  ancient  English.  Its  employ  was  to 
recover  any  game  that  had  escaped  wounded  from  the 
hunter,  or  had  been  killed,  or  stolen  out  of  the  forests. 
But  it  was  still  more  employed  in  hunting  thieves  and 
robbers  ;  with  which  all  parts  of  Europe  were  formerly 
so  much  infested  as  to  render  it  dangerous  to  travel,  or 
even  to  lodge  in  any  house,  except  a  fortified  castle. 
The  Spaniards  brought  over  blood-hounds  to  Hispanio- 
la,  or  St.  Domingo,  to  worry  and  mangle  the  timid  and 
harmless  natives  ;  and  hunted  them  with  these  dogs  in 
the  forests  and  mountains,  as  if  they  had  been  wild 
beasts. 

BOA,  the  negro  name  of  a  great  tree  that  grows  in 
some  of  the  parched  districts  of  Africa,  and  in  a  won- 
derful manner  furnishes  supplies  of  water.  The  trunk 
of  this  tree,  which  is  of  a  prodigious  bulk,  is  naturally 
hollow  like  a  cistern.  In  the  rainy  season  it  receives  its 
fill  of  water,  which  continues  fresh  and  cool  in  the  great- 
est heats,  by  means  of  the  tufted  foliage  which  crowns 
its  summit.  Another  manner  in  which  Providence  has 
contrived  a  supply  for  the  thirst  of  man,  in  sultry  pla- 
ces, is  no  less  worthy  of  admiration.  Nature  has  placed 
amidst  the  burning  sands  of  Africa,  a  plant  whose  leaf, 
twisted  round  like  a  cruet,  is  always  filled  with  the 


46         BOILING— BOS2KS— BRAGANZ  A. 

quantity  of  a  large  glass  full  of  fresh  water  :  the  gullet 
of  this  cruet  is  shut  by  the  extremity  of  the  leaf  itself, 
so  as  to  prevent  the  water  from  evaporating. — St.  Pierre. 

BOILING.  The  following  principles  are  stated  by 
Count  Ilumibrd  :  1.  Water  once  brought  to  be  boiling 
hot,  however  gently  it  may  boil,  cannot  possibly  be  made 
hotter  by  any  increase  of  the  quantity  or  intensity  of  the 
lire  under  it  :  hence,  boiling  water  affords  a  uniform 
standard  of  heat,  in  all  circumstances,  and  in  all  parts  of 
the  globe,  being  just  as  hot  at  the  poles  as  at  the  equator. 
£.  More  than  live  times  as  much  heat  is  required  to 
send  ofi"  in  steam  any  quantity  of  water  already  boiling 
hot,  as  would  be  necessary  to  heat  the  same  quantity  of 
ice-cold  water  to  the  boiling  point.  Therefore,  S.  Caus- 
ing any  thing  to  boil  violently  in  any  culinary  process  is 
very  ill-judged  :  for  it  not  only  does  not  expedite,  even 
in  the  smallest  degree,  the  process  of  cooking,  but  it 
occasions  an  enormous  waste  of  fuel  ;  and  besides,  by 
driving  away  with  the  steam,  many  of  the  more  volatile 
and  more  savory  particles,  it  renders  the  iood  less  nour- 
ishing and  less  palatable. 

BONZES,  an  inferior  order  of  priests  in  China,  re- 
sembling the  friars  and  monks  in  the  popish  countries  of 
Christendom.  They  are  often  seen  in  the  squares  and 
other  public  places,  exhibiting  themselves  as  frightful 
spectacles  of  mortification.  Some  of  them  drag,  with 
great  pain,  along  the  streets,  large  chains,  thirty  feet  in 
length,  which  are  fastened  round  their  necks  and  legs  ; 
and  some  mangle  their  bodies,  and  make  them  appear 
all  over  bloody,  by  slashing  their  ilesh  with  a  hard  flint. 
In  this  situation  they  stop  at  the  doors  of  people's  hous- 
'  You  see  (say  they)  what  we  suffer,  that  we  may 
ite  your  sins  ;  can  you  be  so  hard-hearted  as  to  re- 
fuse us  a  small  alms  ?99~—Winterbottn 

BRAGANZA,  a  duchy  of  Portugal.      In  the  year 
.  Philip  H.  1.5  seized  upon  Portugal; 

but  5n  1  (j^O,  the  'Po:  revolted,  shook  off  the  Span- 

ish  \oU>.  and  elected  for  their  king  the  duke  of  Bra- 
a,  wSio  took  the  name  of  John  IV.  and  in  whose  fam- 
r  since  joiiiaiiicci,  independent  of  Spain; 


BRAIN— BRASS.  47 

To  this  royal  family  was  allied  by  marriage  a  descend- 
ant of  the  celebrated  Christopher  Columbus,  the  discov- 
erer of  America.  Isabella,  daughter  of  Diego  Colum- 
bus, and  grand-daughter  of  Christopher  Columbus,  was 
married  to  Count  de  Gelves,  a  Portuguese  nobleman  of 
the  house  of  Braganza  5  and  being  sole^heiress  of  the 
Columfrus  family,  she  conveyed  by  her  marriage  her 
rights  (that  is,,  a  right  to  a  tenth  of  the  net  profits  of  the 
mines  of  America,  and  to  hold  high  civil  authority  in 
that  country)  to  the  house  of  Braganza  ;  where  they 
continued  till  the  year  1640  ;  and  then  reverted  to  the 
crown  of  Spain,  in  consequence  of  the  revolution  which 
placed  John  duke  of  Braganza  upon  the  throne. — Bry- 
an Edwards. 

BRAIN,  the  soft  substance  within  the  skull.  Mr. 
Somering  thinks  it  probable  that  the  soul  is  seated  in 
the  fluid  of  the  ventricles  of  the  brain.  He  infers  this 
from  the  fact  of  the  nerves  of  vision,  hearing,  taste  and 
smell  being  all  at  their  origin  in  contact  with  and  expos- 
ed to  the  action  of  the  fluid  in  the  ventricles  5  from  the 
same  taking  place  with  regard  to  the  nerves  of  touch, 
and  those  belonging  to  the  organs  of  the  voice  and  the 
motions  of  the  eyes ;  from  the  impossibility  of  finding  a 
solid  part  of  the  brain  into  which  the  termination  of  all 
the  nerves  can  be  traced  ;  from  the  nerves  of  the  finest 
senses,  viz.  hearing  and  seeing,  being  most  extensively 
expanded  and  most  directly  in  contact  with  this  fluid"; 
from  the  preternatural  increase  of  this  fluid  in  the  ven- 
tricles of  rickety  children,  which  may  perhaps  be  the 
cause  of  their  uncommon  acuteness  of  mind  5  and  final- 
ly, from  the  fact,  that  no  animal  possesses.so  capacious 
and  so  perfectly  organized  ventricles  as  man  5  they  be- 
ing in  the  other  mammalia  (or  animals  that  suckle  their 
young)  much  smaller  than  in  man.  still  less  in  birds, 
least  of  all  in  fishes,  and  absolutely  wanting  in  insects, 
—Driller. 

BRASS,  a  factitious  yellow  metal  made  of  copper, 
melted  with  lapis  caliminaris.  The  calamine  is  first 
calcined  and  ground  to  powder,  then  mixed  with  char- 
coal dust,  and  to  seventy  pounds  of  this  mixture  is  add- 
ed five  of  copper ;  which  being  placed  in  a  wind  fur- 


48  BRAZIL, 

nace,  eleven  or  twelve  hours,  the  copper  imbibes  about 
one  third  of  the  weight  of  the  calamine,  and  is  convert- 
ed into  brass.  The  ancient  Corinthians  had  the  art  of 
manufacturing  this  metal  in  the  highest  degree  of  ex- 
cellence 5  insomuch  that  the  Corinthian  brass  obtained 
over  the  world  an  immortal  fame.  When  the  city  of 
Corinth,  which  was  immensely  rich,  was  taken  by  the 
Romans  one  hundred  and  forty-six  years  before  the 
Christian  era,  those  merciless  conquerors  first  pillaged, 
and  then  set  fire  to  it.  At  this  time  a  famous  metalline 
mixture  is  said  to  have  been  made,  which  could  never 
afterwards  be  imitated  by  art.  The  gold,  silver,  and 
brass,  which  the  Corinthians  had  concealed,  were  melt- 
ed, and  ran  down  the  streets  in  streams  5  and  when  the 
flames  were  extinguished,  a  new  metal  was  found,  com- 
posed of  several  different  ones?  and  greatly  admired  in 
after  ages. 

BRAZIL,  a  country  in  South  America  5  stretching 
on  the  coasts  of  the  Atlantic,*  from  the  equator  to  the 
mouth  of  the  river  Plata,  thirty -five  degrees  south  lati- 
tude ;  extending  two  thousand  and  five  hundred  miles 
in  length,  and  seven  hundred  miles  in  breadth  :  and 
comprehending  all  the  Portuguese  settlements  in  A- 
merica.  The  rivers  in  this  country  annually  overflow 
their  banks,  and  like  the  Nile,  leave  a  sort  of  slime  up- 
on the  lands  ;  and  the  soil  is  in  many  places  amazing- 
ly rich.  The  Brazilians  import  as  many  as  forty  thou- 
sand negroes  annually.  The  exports  ot  Brazil  are  dia- 
monds, gold,  sugar,  tobacco,  hides,  drugs  and  medi- 
cines. The  gold  and  diamond  mines  were  first  discov- 
ered in  1681  ;  and  have  since  yielded  above  five  mil- 
lions sterling  annually,  of  which  a  fifth  part  belongs  to 
the  crown.  The  Dutch  having  invaded,  and  partly 
subdued  Brazil  ;  the  Portuguese  agreed  to  pay  them 
ei»-ht  tons  of  gold  to  relinquish  their  interest  in  this 
country  ;  which  they  accepted.  Brazil  was  planted 
with  the  vilest  refuse  of  human  society.  In  process  of 
lime,  the  Portuguese  Jews,  persecuted  by  the  inquisi- 
tion, stript  of  t.he'ir  fortunes  in  Portugal,  and  banished  to 
Brazil,  introduced  by  their  example  some  sort  of  order 
and  industry,  among  the  transported  felons?  by  whom 


BREAD  TREE«- BMDGWATER'S  CANAL.  49 

that  country  was  originally  peopled,  and  taught  them 
the  culture  of  the  sugar  cane. — Morse,  Jldam  Smith. 

BREAD  TREE,  a  tree  of  Otaheite,  one  of  the  Socie- 
ty Islands,  in  the  Pacific  ocean  :  it  has  dark  leaves,  and 
is  as  big  as  a  large  apple  tree.  The  fruit  is  round,  and 
grows  on  the  bows  like  apples,  and  measures  to  th© 
size  of  the  head  of  a  new -born  child.  When  ripe,  it 
turns  yellow,  soft  and  sweet.  As  this  fruit  is  in  season 
eight  months  in  the  year,  the  natives  feed  on  no  other- 
bread  during  that  time.  The  bread-fruit  tree  was  car- 
ried from  Otaheite  to  Great-Britain,  in  the  year  1793* 
and,  in  1797,  more  than  three  hundred  plants  of  this 
tree  were  brought  by  captain  Bligh  from  Otaheite  to  Ja- 
maica ;  where  they  are  said  to  flourish  well.  Bread  is 
also  made,  as  Mr.  Park  says,  of  small  mealy  berries,  of 
a  yellow  colour  and  delicious  taste,  which  grows  plenti- 
fully in  Africa.  The  Africans  convert  them  into  bread, 
by  exposing  them  for  some  days  to  the  sun,  and  after- 
wards pounding  them  gently  in  a  mortar,  until  the 
mealy  part  of  the  berry  is  separated  from  the  stone  that 
it  contains.  This  meal  is  then  mixed  with  a  little  wa- 
ter, and  formed  into  a  cake  ;  which,  when  dried  in  the 
sun,  resembles,  in  colour  and  flavor,  the  sweetest  ginger- 
bread. Pliny  relates  that  an  army,  in  Lybia,  had  been 
fed  with  this  bread. 

BRIDGWATER'S  CANAL,  a  famous  canal  in  Eng- 
land, projected  and  carried  into  execution  by  the  duke 
of  Bridgwater,  about  the  year  1759  5  the  duke  being  on- 
ly twenty-one  years  of  age  when  he  conceived  the  vast 
design.  This  canal  unites  the  city  of  Liverpool  with  the 
populous  town  of  Manchester.  It  is  sometimes  carried 
across  vast  rocks,  hollowed  at  top.  Sometimes  it  sud- 
denly vanishes,  and  makes  a  great  number  of  turnings 
in  a  subterraneous  passage  eight  English  miles  in  length. 
After  appearing,  all  at  once  it  seems  suspended  in  the 
air,  and  crosses  the  river  Wevil  by  means  of  prodigious 
arches,  in  such  a  manner  that  one  may  often  enjoy  the 
picturesque  sight  of  one  vessel  navigating  in  the  stream 
below,  and  of  another  which  crosses  it,  and  seems  to 
sail  in  the  airy  element  above. — Picture  of  England, 
F 


SO  BRITAIN— BRUNSWICK. 

BRITAIN.  The  island  of  Great  Britain,  compre- 
hending England,  Scotland  and  Wales,  is  live  hundred 
and  fifty  miles  in  length  and  two  hundred  and  ninety  in 
breadth.  Forty-four  years  before  our  Saviour's  nativity, 
Julius  Csesar  begun  the  conquest  of  the  southern  parts 
of  Britain,  which  was  completed  by  Agricola,  the  Roman 
general,  in  the  eighty -fifth  year  of  the  Christian  era ;  the 
Romans  keeping  possession  till  the  year  428  5  when,  in- 
vaded at  home,  they  withdrew  their  legions  from  this 
island.  At  that  time  the  old  inhabitants,  or  native  Bri- 
tons, called  the  Saxons  to  their  aid  against  the  Picts  and 
Scots ;  these  foreign  auxiliaries  subdued  the  country  for 
themselves,  and  divided  it  into  seven  kingdoms,  called 
the  Heptarchy.  The  Heptarchy  continued  till  829,  when 
Egbert  having  subdued  the  other  petty  sovereigns,  uni- 
ted England  under  one  government.  In  the  year  1014, 
the  TDanes  subdued  England  5  and  Swain,  from  Den- 
mark, was  proclaimed  king  :  the  Saxons,  however,  re- 
gained the  throne.  In  the  year  1066,  William,  duke  of 
Normandy  in  France,  invaded  and  conquered  England, 
slew  Harold  the  Saxon  king  in  battle,  and  usurped  the 
throne :  from  him  has  descended  the  present  race  of 
kings  in  that  island.  In  1603  the  crowns  of  England 
and  Scotland  were  united  in  the  person  of  James  Stuart, 
called  James  I.  In  1707,  the  two  kingdoms  were  uni- 
ted by  the  consent  and  decree  of  the  parliaments  of 
both  nations  ;  taking  thenceforward  the  name  of  Great 
Britain.  This  island  has  become  the  great  mart  of  the 
world ;  its  commerce  has  been  extended  and  its  manu- 
factures carried  to  almost  every  nation.  Its  maritime 
power  is  far  greater  than  has  been  ever  in  possession  of 
any  nation  else.  It  owns  large  possessions  in  North 
America,  and  in  the  West  Indies,  and  some  in  Africa ; 
and  in  the  East  Indies,  fourteen  millions  of  people  bow 
to  the  British  sceptre, 

BRUNSWICK,  a  country  or  duchy  of  the  German 
empire.  The  house  of  Brunswick,  since  early  in  the 
eighteenth  century,  has  held  the  sceptre  of  Great  Bri- 
tain, by  the 'following  title.  Henry  the  Lion,  duke  of 
Saxony,  had  marricu  a  daughter  of  Henry  II.  of  Eng- 
land. In  the  year  1180,  the  duke  having  raised  trou- 
in  Germany,  and  being  put  to  the  ban  of  the  empire^ 


BUCCANIERS.  $ 

and  divested  of  all  his  dominions  except  the  territory  of 
Brunswick,  he  took  refuge  with  his  father-in-law  in 
England  ;  where  his  wife  bore  him  a  son,  from  whom 
the  present  house  of  Brunswick,  and  consequently  the 
present  royal  family  of  Great  Britain,  is  descended. — < 
Russell. 

BUCCANIERS,  pirates  in  the  West-Indies,  who  be- 
gun to  infest  the  seas  in  the  former  part  of  the  seven- 
teenth century.  After  the  failure  of  the  mines  of  His- 
paniola  or  St.  Domingo,  and  the  conquest  of  Mexico 
and  Peru,  which  abounded  with  the  precious  metals,  the 
Spaniards  entirely  neglected  their  West  India  islands, 
and  betook  themselves  to  the  continent  in  quest  of  gold 
and  silver.  In  consequence  of  the  desertion  of  the  isl- 
ands, all  the  European  animals,  especially  the  horned 
cattle,  had  multiplied  exceedingly  arid  run  wild.  Allur- 
ed by  the  advantages  of  hunting  these  wild  cattle^  cer- 
tain English  and  French  adventurers,  since  known  by 
the  name  of  buccaniers,  had  taken  possession  of  several 
of  the  islands.  Their  dress  consisted  of  a  shirt  dipped 
in  the  blood  of  the  animals  they  had  slain ;  a  pair  of 
trowsers  dirtier  than  the  shirt ;  a  leathern  girdle,  from 
which  hung  a  short  sabre  and  some  Dutch  knives  5  a  hat 
without  any  rim,  except  a  flap  before  to  pull  it  off  with  ; 
and  shoes  made  of  raw  hides,  without  stockings.  These 
outcasts,  after  living  a  while  by  hunting  cattle,  turned 
pirates,  and  in  open  boats,  attacked  and  captured  trading 
ships  of  all  nations,  especially  the  Spaniards.  They  even 
attacked  and  plundered  some  of  the  Spanish  settlements 
on  the  American  continent ;  murdering  the  men  rav- 
ishing the  women,  and  carrying  them  into  cartivity. — 
Their  booty  was  carried  principally  to  Hispaniola  and 
Jamaica.  These  piracies  they  carried  on  about  fifty 
years  to  the  extreme  annoyance  of  the  commercial  na- 
tions of  Europe,  as  well  as  of  the  American  colonies. 
His  Britannic  majesty,  Charles  II.  did  not  disdain  to  be- 
come a  partner  in  the  buccaniering  business  ;  he  exacted 
and  received  a  share  of  the  booty  ;  and  promoted  Henry 
Morgan  the  most  celebrated  of  the  English  buccaniers, 
to  the  office  of  deputy- governor  and  lieutenant-general 
in  the  island  of  Jamaica. — Russell,  Bryan  Edwards. 


52   BUFFALO— BULL-BAITING  BULL  D06. 

BUFFALO,  a  large  animal,  found  in  great  plenty  in 
Canada.  The  horns  of  the  buffalo  are  low,  black,  and 
short.  He  has  a  ^reat  beard  of  hair  under  his  muzzle, 
ftnd  a  large  tuft  of  hair  upon  his  head,  which  falls  dowft 
upon  his  eyes,  and  gives  him  a  hideous  look.  He  has  a 
great  hump  upon  his  back,  which  begins  at  his  hips,  and 
goes,  increasing,  up  to  his  shoulders.  This  hump  is 
covered  with  hair,  somewhat  reddish,  and  very  long. 
The  rest  of  the  body  is  covered  with  black  wool,  which 
is  much  valued.  Tliey  say  that  the  skin  of  a  buffalo  has 
eight  pounds  of  wool  on  it.  The  skin  is  excellent :  it 
is  easily  dressed ;  and  though  very  strong,  becomes 
supple,  like  the  best  chamois.  The  savages  make 
shields  of  it,  which  are  very  light,  and  which  a  musket 
ball  will  not  easily  pierce. 

BULL-BAITING,  the  worrying  or  teazing  a  bull,  by 
getting  dogs  at  him.  The  cruel  and  absurd  diversion^ 
of  bull-baiting  and  bull-fighting  have  been  common  in 
Spain ;  originating  probably  from  the  Moors,  who  in 
former  days  inhabited  that  country.  The  Spanish  young 
gentlemen,  on  horse  back,  and  completely  armed,  en- 
counter an  enraged  bull,  in  the  presence  of  their  mis- 
tresses and  a  numerous  concourse  of  spectators ;  and 
the  valor  of  the  hero  is  proclaimed,  honored  and  re» 
warded,  according  to  the  number  and  fierceness  of  the 
bulls  he  has  killed  in  these  encounters.  The  poor  in- 
habitants of  small  towns  and  villages  club  together,  and 
purchase  an  ox,  or  a  cow,  and  light  this  animal,  riding 
upon  asses,  instead  of  horses. — Guthrie. 

BULL  DOG,  the  fiercest  of  all  the  dog  kind,  and 
;ibly  the  most  courageous  creature  in  the  world.  It 
,v  in  stature,  but  very  strong  and  muscular.  It* 
nose  is  short;  and  the  under  jaw  projects  beyond  the 
upper,  which  gives  it  a  fierce  but  unpleasant  aspect. 
Its  courage  in  attacking  the  bull  is  well  known  ;  its  fury 
in  seizing,  and  its  invincible  obstinacy  in  maintaining  its 
hold,  are  truly  astonishing.  It  always  aims  at  the  front, 
and  generally  fastens  upon  the  lip,  the  tongue,  the  eye, 
or  some  part  of  the  face ;  where  it  hangs,  in  spite  of 
every  effort  of  the  bull  to  disengage 


BULLET— BUTTERFLY-BUTTERN  UT-TREE.     53 

BULLET,  an  iron  or  leaden  ball  or  shot,  used  to  load 
guns  with.  A  bullet  passes  through  the  air  at  the  rate 
of  three  miles  in  a  second,  but  the  light  of  the  burning 
powder  is  conveyed  to  the  eye  at  the  rate  of  a  hundred 
and  ninety -eight  thousand  miles  in  a  second.  There- 
fore persons,  standing  at  a  considerable  distance  and 
seeing  the  flash  have  time  to  fall  to  the  ground  before 
the  arrival  of  the  bullet,  which  would  strike  them  before 
they  could  hear  the  report  or  sound  of  the  gun  :  for  this 
sound  moves  only  at  the  rate  of  a  quarter  of  a  mile  in 
one  second.  When  a  bullet  passes  through  a  man,  it 
is  with  such  velocity  as  to  cauterize  the  wound  and  pre- 
vent an  instantaneous  effusion  of  blood  ;  and  gun  shot 
wounds  usually  take  place  it  is  said  without  much  im- 
mediate pain. 

BUTTERFLY,  an  insect  well  known,  and  much  ad- 
mired for  its  beauty :  it  is  bred  from  the  caterpillar. 
The  wings  of  the  butterfly  are  four  in  number,  and 
though  two  of  them  be  cut  off,  the  animal  can  fly  with 
the  two  others  remaining.  If  we  observe  the  wing  of  a 
butterfly  with  a  good  microscope,  we  shall  perceive  it 
studded,  over  with  a  variety  of  little  grains  of  different 
dimensions  and  forms ;  and  nothing  can  exceed  the 
beautiful  and  regular  arrangement  of  these  little  sub- 
stances. Like  the  tiles  of  a  house,  those  of  one  rank  are 
a  little  covered  by  those  which  follow :  and  they  are  of 
a  great  variety  of  figures,  some  oval,  some  in  the  form 
of  a  heart,  some  triangular,  and  some  resembling  a  hand 
open  :  yet  the  weight  of  the  wing,  though  it  be  covered 
over  with  these  scales,  is  very  little  increased  thereby.-— 
Goldsmith. 

BUTTERNUT-TREE,  one  of  the  valuable  indigen- 
ous trees  of  the  United  States,  which  grows  luxuriantly 
in  many  places,  and  is  sometimes  so  large  as  to  measure 
ten  feet  in  circumference.  The  bark  affords,  by  boiling 
in  water,  an  extract  that  is  found  by  experience,  to  pos- 
sess a  purgative  quality.  This  is  safe,  gentle,  and  effi- 
cacious 5  and  when  administered  in  doses,  from  fifteen 
to  forty  grains,  operates  downwards  without  griping. 
The  nut  of  this  tree  is  very  rich,  esculent  and  oily : 
the  bark  is  used  for  dying  cloths  with  various  shade*  of 
,— Dr,  Mitchell*  F  2 


54    CABRO  DI  CAPELLO— CACAO  TREE— CAIRO, 

C. 

C'ABRO  DI  CAPELLO,  a  serpent  that  inflicts  the 
most  deadly  wounds.  It  is  from  three  to  eight  feet  long, 
with  two  large  fangs  hanging  out  of  the  upper  jaw.  It 
has  a  broad  neck,  and  a  mark  of  dark  brown  on  the  fore- 
head. The  eyes  are  fierce  and  full  of  fire,  the  head  is 
small  and  the  nose  flat,  though  covered  with  very  large 
scales  of  a  yellowish  colour ;  the  skin  is  white,  and  the 
large  tumor  on  the  back  is  covered  with  oblong  and 
smooth  scales.  The  bite  of  this  animal  is  said  to  be  in- 
curable, the  patient  dying  in  about  an  hour  after  the 
wound,  the  whole  frame  being  dissolved  into  one  mass 
of  corruption.—- 'Goldsmith. 

CACAO  TREE,  the  tree  that  produces  the  choco- 
late nut,  and  is  a  native  of  South  America.  In  size 
and  shape,  it  somewhat  resembles  a  young  blackheart 
cherry.  The  flower  is  of  a  saffron  colour,  extremely 
beautiful,  and  the  pods,  which  in  a  green  state  are 
much  like  a  cucumber,  proceed  immediately  from  all 
parts  of  the  body  and  larger  branches.  As  they  ripen, 
they  change  their  colour,  and  turn  to  a  fine  bluish  red, 
almost  purple,  with  bluish  veins.  The  cacao  tree  bears 
two  crops  a  vear,  yielding  at  each,  from  ten  to  twenty 
pounds  weight,  according  to  ihe  soils  and  seasons.  It 
is  a  tree  of  great  delicacy :  it  is  obnoxious  to  blights, 
and  shrinks  at  the  first  appearance  of  drought. — Bryaft 
Edwards. 

CAIRO,  or  Grand  Cairo,  the  capital  of  Egypt,  and 
a  place  of  great  commerce.     Every  year  a   caravan 
from  Abyssinia  arrives  at  Cairo,  on  its  way  to  Mecca, 
and  brings  from  a  thousand  to  twelve  hundred  black 
slaves,  as  also  elephant's  teeth,  gold  dust,  ostrich  feath- 
ers, gums,  parrots,  and  monkeys ;  while  another,  con- 
sisting of  not  less  than  three  or  four  thousand  camels, 
multitudes  of  pilgrims,  stops  at  Cairo  annually,  on 
way  to  Mecca,  and  on  its  return.     The  lading  of 
caravans  consists  of  India  stuffs,  shawls,  gums, 
-ls,  perfumes,  and  especially  the  coftee  of  Yemen. 
;  caravans  arrive  also  from  Damascus,  with  silk 
colton  stuffs,  oil,  and  dried  fruits.    Vessels  come 


CALABRIA— CALAIS.  55 

likewise  from  Marseilles,  Leghorn,  and  Venice,  with 
cloths,  cochineal,  Lyons'  stuffs  and  laces,  paper,  iron, 
lead,  Venetian  sequins,  and  German  dollars.  All  these 
articles  conveyed  first  by  sea  to  Rosetta,  in  barks,  are 
first  landed  there,  then  re-embarked  on  the  Nile,  and 
gent  to  Cairo.  It  is,  notwithstanding,  a  filthy  city,  of- 
fensive to  the  smell,  and  to  the  sight. — Volney. 

CALABRIA,  a  district  of  Naples  in  Italy.  It  is  rich 
in  vegetable  and  mineral  productions,  but  liable  to  earth- 
quakes. One  of  the  most  terrible  on  record  happened 
here  and  in  Sicily  in  1783.  Besides  the  destruction  of 
Jnany  towns,  villages,  and  farms,  above  forty  thousand 
persons  perished  by  this  calamity.  Mountains  were 
levelled,  and  vallies  formed  in  an  instant ;  new  rivers 
began  to  flow,  and  old  streams  were  sunk  in  the  earth, 
and  destroyed  5  plantations  \vere  removed  from  their 
situations,  and  hills  carried  to  places  far  distant.  At 
the  town  of  Scilla,  a  wave  which  had  swept  the  country 
For  three  miles,  carried  off,  on  its  return,  two  thousand 
four  hundred  and  ninety- three  of  its  inhabitants.  Some 
persons  were  dug  out  alive  after  having  remained  a 
surprising  length  of  time  under  the  rubbish  of  their  fall- 
en houses.  The  earth  was  tremulous  for  several 
months,  during  which  there  were  many  shocks ;  those 
of  the  fifth  and  seventh  of  February,  and  of  the  twenty- 
eighth  of  March,  were  the  most  violent.  Before  and 
during  the  concussions,  the  clouds  gathered,  and  then 
hung  immoveable  and  heavy  over  the  earth ;  and  the  at- 
mosphere wore  a  fiery  aspect. — Walker ',  Hamilton. 

CALAIS,  a  strong  town  of  France,  in  Picardy.  Thii 
town  was  besieged  by  Edward  III.  of  England,  in  the 
year  1347;  and  the  besieged  having  at  length  consum- 
ed all  their  provisions,  and  even  eaten  all  their  horses, 
dogs,  and  cats,  the  governor,  John  de  Vienne,  appeared 
upon  the  walls  and  offered  to  capitulate.  Edward, 
greatly  incensed  at  their  obstinate  resistance  in  main- 
taining a  siege  of  eleven  months,  demanded  that  six  of 
the  principal  burghesses  should  suffer  the  penalty  of 
xleath  $  and  that  these  victims  should  deliver  him  the 
keys  of  the  city,  with  ropes  about  their  necks.  In  this 
extremity,  when  tfre  whole  people  were  drowned  it* 


56  CALCUTTA, 

tears,  and  uncertain  what  to  do,  Eustice  de  Pierre,  one 
of  the  richest  merchants  in  the  place,  stepped  forth, 
and  voluntarily  offered  himself  to  be  one  of  those  six 
devoted  victims  ;  and  his  noble  example  was  immediate- 
ly imitated  by  other  five  of  the  most  respectable  citi- 
zens. These  patriots,  barefooted  and  bareheaded,  with 
ropes  about  their  necks,  were  attended  to  the  gates  by 
the  whole  inhabitants,  with  tears,  blessings,  and  pray- 
ers for  their  safety.  When  they  were  brought  into 
Edward's  presence,  they  laid  the  keys  of  the  city  at  his 
feet,  and  falling  on  their  knees,  inplored  his  mercy  in 
such  moving  strains,  that  all  the  spectators  were  melt- 
ed into  tears.  Edward  for  some  time  remained  inex- 
orable ;  when  his  queen,  kneeling  before  him,  earnestly 
begged  and  obtained  their  lives. 

CALCUTTA,  a  city  of  Bengal,  belonging  to  the 
English  East  India  company;  situated  on  a  western 
branch  of  the  Ganges,  one  hundred  miles  from  its 
mouth  ;  supposed  to  contain  five  hundred  thousand  in- 
habitants, consisting  of  Europeans  and  Asiatics,  whose 
mixture  of  language,  dress,  and  manners,  afford  a  most 
curious  and  extraordinary  sight.  The  trade  of  Calcut- 
ta is  very  extensive.  It  is  through  this  channel  the 
company  obtains  the  saltpetre,  and  all  the  muslins  which 
are  seen  in  Europe,  while  it  exports  to  this  port  Span- 
ish coins,  gold  thread,  copper,  lead,  iron  in  bars  and 
wrought,  English  manufactures  of  different  sorts  for 
the  use  of  the  Europeans  there,  wine  and  brandy,  sea- 
salt,  and  marine  stores  of  every  kind.  Individuals  there 
obtain  pepper  and  arrac  from  the  coast  of  Malabar ; 
raw  silks,  nankeens,  porcelain,  and  tea,  from  China,  to 
which  place  they  send  in  return  the  cotton  from  th« 
Malabar  coast.  The  grain  of  Bengal  they  export  to  ev- 
ery part  of  India,  receive  silks  from  Surat,  send  mus- 
lins and  European  commodities  to  Macao,  and  the  Phi- 
lippine Islands  and  give  circulation  to  all  these  articles 
in  the  whole  interior  of  Asia.  A  commerce  which  ex- 
tends to  sucli  a  variety  of  branches  cannot  fail  to  en- 
rich those  who  cultivate  it ;  and  accordingly  Calcutta 
is  the  richest  town  in  India.  Private  merchants? 
however,  are  not  tne  most  wealthy  class  of  those  who  re- 
side there :  the  company's  servants  are  much  richer, 


CALENDAR.  £7 

and  become  so  much  more  rapidly.  A  young  man 
who  comes  from  London  in  the  capacity  of  writer,  with- 
out a  single  rupee  in  his  pocket,  finds  himself  in  a  very 
short  time  swimming  in  wealth.  In  the  course  of  a 
twelvemonth  he  will  be  sent  into  the  country,  be  invest- 
ed with  some  office,  such  as  assistant  collector  of  a 
district  5  which  will  enable  him,  in  the  usual  course  of 
rapine,  to  acquire  speedily  an  immense  fortune.  Mean- 
while the  oppressed  natives  are  frequently  seen  starv- 
ing at  the  gates  of  their  unfeeling  oppressors,  and  their 
bodies  preyed  upon,  sometimes  before  they  are  quit® 
dead,  by  jackalls,  eagles,  and  vultures  l~~Grrandpre. 

CALENDAR,  a  table  containing  the  days,  months, 
festivals,  &c.  happening  in  the  year.  The  Roman  cal- 
endar, from  which  ours  is  borrowed,  was  composed  by 
Romulus,  who  made  the  year  consist  of  no  more  than 
S64  days.  Numa  Pompilius  made  it  consist  of  twelve 
lunar  months  of  thirty  and  twenty -nine  days  alternately, 
which  made  354  days  :  but  being  fond  of  an  odd  num- 
ber, he  added  one  day  more,  which  made  it  355  days  $ 
tmd  that  the  civil  year  might  equal  the  sun's  motion,  he 
added  a  month  every  second  year.  Julius  Csesar,  as  & 
farther  improvement,  made  the  year  consist  of  365 
days,  and  left  the  six  hours  to  form  a  day,  at  the  end 
of  every  fourth  year,  which  was  added  to  the  month  of 
February.  This  calendar  was  called  the  Julian,  or  tha 
old  style,  in  contradistinction  of  the  new  style  introduc- 
ed by  Gregory.  In  1582,  Pope  Gregory  XIII.  finding 
perplexity  to  arise  in  the  computation  of  time,  from 
some  errors  in  the  Julian  calendar,  thought  proper  to 
order  the  formation  and  adoption  of  a  new  style  of  reck- 
oning. The  astronomers  and  mathematicians  whom 
he  summoned  to  Rome  for  that  purpose,  after  spending 
several  years  in  investigating  the  subject,  and  adjusting 
the  principles  of  another  system,  produced  what  has 
been  since  called  the  Gregorian  Calendar.  In  forming 
this  method  of  computation,  eleven  days  were  lopped 
off  from  the  old  calendar  ;  leaving  out  in  the  future? 
one  bissextile  day  every  hundred  years,  and  making  ev- 
ery fourth  hundred  a  leap  year.  The  Gregorian  style, 
thus  formed,  was  soon  adopted  by  all  the  catholic  states, 
aiost  of  the  protestant  countries,  before  the  com- 


£S       CALIFORNIA— CALUMET— CAMEL. 

fi 

mencement  of  the  18th  century.  But  it  was  not  until 
the  year  1752,  when  Britain  and  her  dependencies,  by 
an  act  of  parliament,  adopted  the  new  style  :  at  the 
same  time,  the  Ecclesiastical  year,  which  had  before 
commenced  on  the  25th  of  March,  was  made  to  coin- 
cide with  the  civil  i/ear,  and  ordered,  like  that,  to  be 
computed  from  the  first  of  January. — Penning,  Miller. 

CALIFORNIA,  a  large  peninsula  of  North  Ameri- 
ca $  lying  eastward  of  New -Mexico,  between  the  gulf 
of  California  and  the  Pacific  ocean  ;  extending  irt 
length  from  the  tropic  of  Cancer  to  the  28th  degree  of 
north  latitude  about  300  leagues,  and  in  breadth,  from 
sea  to  sea,  not  more  than  40  leagues.  The  Californians 
draw  the  bow  with  inimitable  skill  ;  and  will  bring 
down  the  smallest  birds  with  unerring  aim.  One  of 
these  Indians  will  fix  upon  his  own,  the  head  with  the 
horns  of  the  stag  $  will  walk  on  all  fours  ;  bronze  the 
grass  ;  and  by  this  and  other  means  so  deceive  herds 
of  these  animals,  that  they  shall  without  alarm,  permit 
him  to  approach  near  enough  to  kill  them  with  his  ar- 
rows.— Perouse. 

CALUMET,  or  Indian  Pipe,  a  symbolical  instrument 
of  great  importance  among  the  natives  of  America  :  no 
affair  of  consequence  is  transacted  among  them  without 
the  calumet.  Even  in  the  rage  of  conflfct  the  calumet 
is  sometimes  offered  5  and  if  accepted,  the  weapons 
drop  from  their  hands,  and  a  truce  ensues.  A  stran- 
ger, on  entering  the  house  of  an  Indian  chief,  of  the 
Creek  nation,  (says  Bartram)  is  first  presented  with 
food,  the  best  that  the  house  affords.  After  which,  the 
chief  filling  a  pipe,  whose  stem  is  about  four  feet  long, 
sheathed  in  a  speckled  snake-skin,  and  adorned  with 
leathers  and  strings  of  wampum  ;  he  lights  it,  and 
smokes  a  few  whiffs,  puffing  the  smoke  first  towards 
the  sun,  and  then  to  the  four  cardinal  points,  and  lastly 
over  the  breast  of  the  stranger  5  then  hands  the  pipe  to 
him,  who  takes  it  and  smokes.  This  done,  conversa- 
tion begins  ;  the  chief  asks  his  guest,  whence  he  came, 
together  with  such  other  questions  as  happen  to  occur. 

CAMEL,  a  large  animal   with   two   kumps  on  his 


CAMELEON.  S3J 

back  ;  though  the  dromedary,  which  is  a  creature  of 
the  camel  kind,  and  is  much  tffeed,  has  but  one.  The 
camel  is  a  native  of  Arabia,  and  will  thrive  so  well  no 
where  else  ;  it  is  in  every  respect  surprisingly  adapted 
by  nature  to  live  in  desarts,  as  it  is  able  to  endure  ab- 
stinence both  from  food  and  drink  to  a  wonderful  degree. 
Providence  has  given  this  animal  two  stomachs  ;  one 
for  the  purpose  ot  carrying  a  supply  of  water  sufficient 
for  several  days.  Its  foot  is  soft  and  sure  5  formed  for 
travelling  in  deep  and  burning  sands,  it  never  makes  a 
false  step,  and  never  slips  5  but  it  cannot  be  made  to 
travel  a  muddy  road,  unless  driven  by  blows.  It  is  ca- 
pable of  carrying  a  very  heavy  load,  and  lies  down  to  be 
loaded,  or  mounted  ;  rising  at  the  word  of  command. 
When  the  Arabs  are  attacked,  they  mount  their  camels, 
and  fly  with  the  swiftness  of  the  wind  ;  travelling  over 
deep  and  burning  sands,  more  than  a  hundred  miles  in 
a  single  day.  The  milk  of  the  camel  is  a  great  part  of 
their  nourishment  ;  they  feed  on  its  flesh  ;  they  clothe 
themselves  with  its  hair,  which  it  sheds  every  year  ; 
sal-ammoniac  is  made  of  its  urine  :  and  its  dung  is  dried, 
and  used  for  fuel. — Grandpre,  Goldsmith. 

CAMELEON,  a  species  of  lizard,  abounding  in  some 
parts  of  Egypt.  This  creature,  with  its  tail  extended, 
is  about  fifteen  inches  lon^.  Its  usual  colour  is  of  a 
light  green,  though  it  .varies  its  dye  according  to  that  of 
whatever  plant  or  flower  the  animal  rests  upon.  The 
Cameleon  devours  prodigious  quantities  of  flies  ;  but 
being  very  slow  and  inactive,  it  would  be  impossible  for 
him  to  take  his  prey,  had  not  nature  taken  care  to  sup- 
ply those  defects  by  a  peculiar  gift,  which  he  improves 
with  great  success  :  for  sitting  as  if  he  were  inattentive 
to  his  prey,  the  unthinking  flies  use  no  caution  in  ap- 
proaching him,  when  of  a  sudden,  he  darts  out  a  tongue 
about  six  inches  long ;  the  end  of  which  is  concave,  and 
covered  with  a  glutinous  matter,  so  that  it  is  impossible 
for  the  fly  to  escape  destruction.  The  foregoing  de- 
scription is  from  Lord  Sandwich's  voyage.  Sonini,  on 
the  other  hand,  says,  that  the  changing  of  colour  in  Ca- 
meleons,  is  not  to  be  ascribed  to  the  objects  presented 
to  them  5  and  that  their  different  affections  increase  or 
diminish  the  intensity  of  the  tints,  which  cover,  and,  a* 
it  were,  marble  their  very  delicate  skin* 


<3<3  CAMELEOPARD-CAMPHIRE TREE— CANADA, 

CAMELEOPARD,  a  large  animal  of  Africa.  One 
£een  by  Mr.  Park,  near  the  banks  of  the  Niger,  he  thus 
describes  :  "  The  neck  and  fore-legs  were  very  long  ; 
the  head  was  furnished  with  two  black  horns  turning 
backwards  5  the  tail,  which  reached  down  to  the  ham- 
joint,  had  a  tuft  of  hair  at  the  end.  The  animal  was  of 
a  mouse  colour,  and  it  trotted  away  from  us  in  a  very 
sluggish  manner,  moving  its  head  from  side  to  side,  te 
»ee  if  we  were  pursuing  it." 

CAMPHIRE  TREE.  The  tree  from  which  cam- 
pliire  is  procured,  is  a  production  of  China,  and,  it  is 
said,  that  some  of  them  are  found  more  than  a  hundred 
and  fifty  feet  in  height,  and  vastly  large  in  circumfer- 
ence. The  trunks  of  these  trees,  when  old,  emit  sparks 
of  fire  ;  but  their  flame  is  so  subtile,  that  no  danger  is 
to  be  apprehended  from  it.  The  Chinese  obtain  cam- 
phire  by  taking  the  branches  fresh  from  the  tree,  chop- 
ping them  small,  and  laying  them  to  soak  in  spring  wa- 
ter,°for  three  days  and  nights.  They  then  are  put  into 
a  kettle  where  they  are  boiled  for  a  certain  time,  dur- 
ing which  they  continually  stir  them  with  a  stick  of  wil- 
low. This  liquor  is  then  gently  strained  off'  into  an 
earthern  vessel  well  varnished  ;  after  which  they  purify 
it  with  a  certain  kind  of  earth  reduced  to  a  very  fine 
powder. —  TFinterbotham. 

CANADA,  two  British  provinces  in  North  America. 
This  large  district  of  country  (comprehending  the  pro- 
Vmees  ol  Upper  and  Lower  Canada)  is  situated  between 
42°  30'  and  52°  north  latitude  ;  extending  in  length 
about  fourteen  hundred  miles,  and  in  breadth  five  hun- 
dred, it  is  bounded,  in  part,  by  New-Britain  and  the 
Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  by  the  province  of  New-Bruns- 
wick and  the  district  ef  Maine,  and  by  New-Hampshire, 
Vermont,  New-York,  and  the  Lakes.  The  Canadians 
are  in  a  large  proportion  French,  or  of  French  extrac- 
tion :  it  is  said,  that  whether  sitting  or  walking,  or  rid- 
ing, they  have  a  tobacco  pipe  in  their  mouth,  and  even 
use  it  to  measure  distances.  In  Weld's  Tour  through 
Canada,  it  is  remarked,  in  substance,  that  when  a  trav- 
eller enquirers  the  distance  to  an  inn  or  to  any  particu- 
lar town,  the  informant,  iustead  of  reckoning  the  dis- 


CANADA  INDIANS.  61 

tance  by  miles,  says,  it  is  so  many  pipes :  by  which  is 
meant  that  one  might  smoke  the  given  number  of  pipes 
while  the  distance  is  travelling.  A  pipe,  he  observes, 
is  reckoned  for  about  three  quarters  of  an  English  mile. 
This  story  is,  however,  to  be  received  with  considerable 
allowance. 

CANADA  INDIANS,  tribes  as  fierce  and  warlike 
as  any  of  the  aborigines  of  North  America.  During  a 
great  part  of  the  time,  that  Canada  was  a  province  of  the 
French  government,  which  was  from  its  first  settlement 
till  its  conquest  by  the  British  in  1759  5  the  frontiers  of 
the  colonies  of  New-York,  Massachusetts,  and  New- 
Hampshire,  were  frequently  infested  by  those  savages* 
In  the  depth  of  winter,  1689,  a  party  of  those  Indians, 
together  with  a  number  of  Frenchmen,  surprized  the 
town  of  Schenectady,  in  the  night,  while  the  inhabitants 
were  unalarmed  and  in  a  profound  sleep  $  and  butcher- 
ed them,  with  circumstances  of  most  horrible  barbarity. 
The  whole  village  was  instantly  in  a  blaze ;  women 
with  child  were  ripped  open,  and  their  infants  cast  intor 
the  flames.  Sixty  persons  perished  in  the  massacre, 
and  twenty-seven  were  carried  into  captivity,  the  rest 
fled  naked  through  the  snow  to  Albany.  Their  wonted 
passage  into  the  western  parts  of  Massachusetts,  was 
through  Vermont  (then  a  wilderness)  along  Onion  river. 
In  February,  1703,  the  Canada  Indians  burned  Deer- 
field,  on  Connecticut  river,  massacred  part  of  the  in- 
habitants, and  carried  the  rest  away  as  captives.  Dur- 
ing the  war  (that  commenced  1756)  between  the  French 
Canadians,  aided  by  troops  from  France,  and  the  An- 
glo-American colonies,  assisted  by  Great  Britain  ;  the 
cruelties  of  these  savages  are  thus  represented  by  the 
celebrated  Benjamin  Franklin,  in  a  newspaper  printed 
by  him  in  Philadelphia.  Speaking  of  the  capture,  by  the 
French,  of  fort  William  Henry,  Franklin  expresses 
himself  as  follows.  "  The  French,  immediately  after 
"  the  capitulation,  most  perfidiously  let  their  blood" 
"hounds  loose  upon  our  people.  Some  got  off 5  the 
"  rest  were  stripped  stark  naked.  Many  were  killed 
"  and  scalped,  officers  not  excepted.  The  throats  of 
"  the  women  were  cut,  their  bellies  ripped  open,  their 
46  bowels  turned  out,  and  thrown  upon  the  faces  of  their 

Gr 


62  CANAL— CANAL  PROJECT. 

"  yet  palpitating  bodies.  Their  children  were  taken  by 
"  the  neels,  and  their  brains  beat  out  against  the  trees 
"  or  stones,  and  not  one  of  them  saved."  "  This  cru- 
"  elty  of  the  French  (added  Franklin)  is  nothing  new, 
"  for  that  they  massacred  several  hundreds  of  General 
"  Braddock's  wounded  men — that  they  murdered  their 
"  prisoners  near  Ticonderoga,  and  all  the  sick  and 
"  wounded  of  Oswego,  notwithstanding  the  previous 
"  capitulation." 

CANAL,  an  artificial  river  or  rivulet,  or  any  tract  of 
water  made  by  art.  Canals  answer  the  twofold  purpose 
of  inland  navigation,  and  of  enriching  a  country  by  float- 
ing it.  Every  copious  stream  abounds  with  manure  of 
a  most  fertilizing  quality  ;  and  its  waters  turned  upon 
the  land  for  a  short  time,  (for  they  should  not  be  continu- 
ed on  long)  and  then  drained  oft',  enrich  it  in  a  most  as- 
tonishing manner.  We  learn  from  Herodotus,  that  an- 
cient Assyria,  in  its  most  cultivated  state,  was  greatly  in- 
debted for  its  extraordinary  fertility,  to  artificial  canals, 
which  conveyed  the  waters  of  the  Euphrates  into  the 
channel  of  the  Tigris ;  and  which,  intersecting  the  plain 
of  Mesopotamia,  in  various  directions,  by  means  of 
cross-cuts,  afforded  a  constant  supply  of  moisture  to  the 
fields  during  the  absence  of  rain.  In  a  like  manner, 
the  prodigious  fruitfulness  of  ancient  Egypt  was  owing 
partly  to  its  being  inundated  annually  by  the  Nile,  and 
partly  to  its  being  watered  at  other  seasons  of  the  year 
by  canals  which  intersected  the  country  in  all  directions. 
These  canals  were  drawn  principally  from  the  lake 
Moeris,  an  artificial  lake  that  was  made  at  immense 
expense,  as  a  reservoir  for  the  superfluous  waters  of  the 
Nile,  and  for  the  purpose  of  spreading  them,  when  ne- 
cessary, over  the  country.  It  has  been  said  that  the 
Europeans  got  the  idea  of  floating  and  enriching  lands, 
by  means  of  canals,  during  their  frantic  crusades  in 
Asia.  The  first  canal  in  Europe  was  cut  in  England, 
in  the  year  1130. 

CANAL  PROJECT.  The  waters  in  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico  are  considerably  higher  than  the  Pacific  Ocean  ; 
owing  to  the  trade  winds,  which  blowing  from  the  east, 
heap  them  up,  and  force  them  to  escape  through  the 


CANARY  BIRD— CANARY  ISLANDS.      6S 

straits  of  Florida,  thereby  occasioning  what  we  call  the 
gulf  stream.  By  cutting  a  passage  across  the  isthmus 
of  Darien,  or  rather  through  a  flat  country  at  the  head 
of  the  lake  Nicaragua  to  a  small  river  that  falls  into  the 
great  western  ocean,  in  12  degrees  of  north  latitude,  the 
waters  of  the  gulf  would  rush  through  the  opening, 
and  by  degrees  wear  a  free  and  wide  channel,  till  the 
two  oceans  would  become  nearly  of  the  same  level.  The 
navigation  to  the  East  Indies  would  be  shortened  nearly 
ten  thousand  miles.  The  waters  would  recede  from  the 
coast  all  round  the  gulf;  and  increase  the  territories 
of  the  bordering  countries.  The  West  India  islands 
would  grow  every  day  while  the  channel  was  wearing ; 
and  the  gulf  stream  would  cease. — Jim.  Museum. 

CANARY  BIRD,  a  native  of  the  Canary  islands. 
They  have  a  variety  of  colouring ;  some  white,  some 
mottled,  some  beautifully  shaded  with  green ;  but  they 
are  more  esteemed  for  their  song  than  their  beauty, 
having  a  high  piercing  pipe,  continuing  for  some  time 
in  one  breath  without  intermission,  then  raising  it  high- 
er by  degrees,  with  great  variety.  They  are  capable  of 
surprizing  improvement  from  imitation :  the  only  art 
necessary  with  all  those  that  have  no  very  fine  note,  is 
to  breed  them  up  with  one  of  a  more  melodious  voice. 
A  Canary  bird,  in  London,  was  taught  to  pick  up  the 
letters  of  the  alphabet  at  the  word  of  command,  so  as  to 
shell  any  person's  name  in  company  5  and  this  the  little 
animal  did  by  motions  from  its  master,  which  were^  im- 
perceptible to  every  other  spectator. — ^Goldsmith. 

CANARY  ISLANDS,  called  by  the  ancients  "the 
For  lunate  Islands :  of  these  there  are  seven,  lying  in 
the  Atlantic  Ocean,  near  the  coast  of  Africa,  in  about 
30  degrees  north  latitude.  They  belong  to  the  crown 
of  Spain ;  they  are  favored  with  the  most  delightful 
temperature  of  air,  and  abound  with  delicious  fruits. 
The  discovery  of  the  Canary  islands  by  the  Carthageni- 
ans  is  a  fact  well  attested.  Pliny  speaks  of  them  as  then 
destitute  of  inhabitants  5  but  containing  the  remains  of 
buildings.  In  Plutarch's  time  (about  one  hundred  years 
after  our  Saviour's  nativity)  the  Canary,  or  Fortunate 
Islands,  were  not  only  inhabited,  but  were  so  celebrated 


4>4      CANDIA— CANNIBAL— CANTHARIS. 

for  their  fertility,  that  they  were  supposed  to  be  the 
seat  of  the  blessed. — Belknap. 

CANDIA,  the  ancient  Crete,  famed  of  old  for  its 
hundred  cities  ;  it  is  now  in  the  possession  of  the  Turks. 
It  is  an  island  in  the  Mediterranean  sea,  two  hundred 
miles  in  length,  and  fifty  in  breadth  :  it  is  a  mere  desart 
in  comparison  with  its  former  populousness,  opulence, 
and  splendour,  when  it  was  the  seat  of  legislation  to  all 
Greece.  The  Turks  besieged  the  seaport  town  of  Can- 
dia,  the  capital  of  this  island,  (belonging  at  that  time 
to  the  Venetians)  in  the  beginning  of  the  year  1645 ;  they 
stormed  it  fifty-six  times,  and  continued  the  siege  till 
the  latter  end  of  September,  1669  :  when  the  brave 
Venetian  garrison  made  an  honorable  capitulation. 
During  this  siege,  the  longest  that  history  records,  the 
Venetians  lost  eighty  thousand,  and  the  Turks  a  hun- 
dred and  eighty  thousand  men. 

CANNIBAL,  one  that  eats  human  flesh.  The  rag* 
of  hunger  has  sometimes  compelled  persons  to  eat  the 
flesh  of  even  their  friends  and  relations.  In  the  siege 
of  Jerusalem,  a  woman  of  distinction  boiled  and  ate  her 
own  son;  and,  in  modern  times,  there  have  been  in- 
stances of  ship-wrecked  crews  eating  one  another  in  the 
extremity  of  their  hunger.  It  had  been  doubted,  how- 
ever, whether  there  were  any  nations  of  cannibals  ex- 
isting upon  the  earth  ;  but  the  voyages  of  captain  Cooke 
have  put  this  matter  beyond  all  doubt.  He  found  it  to 
be  a  common  custom  in  several  islands  of  the  Pacific 
Ocean,  to  feast  on  the  bodies  of  their  enemies  5  and  in 
some  islands  too  where  extreme  hunger  was  not  known, 
the  ground  being  so  fertile  that  its  spontaneous  produc- 
tions aftbrded  the  inhabitants  an  abundant  supply.  It 
appears  from  Dr.  TrumbulPs  history  of  Connecticut, 
that  the  native  savages  of  America  used,  sometimes,  to 
eat  the  flesh  of  their  enemies,  tineas,  the  Sachem  of 
the  Pequot  Indians,  having  slain  Miantonimo,  the  Sa- 
chem of  the  Naragansets,  he  cut  out  a  large  piece  of 
-houlder,  and  ate  it ;  saying,  "  it  was  the  sweetest 
meat  he  ever  ate,  it  made  his  heart  strong." 

€ ANTHARIS,  an  insect  of  the  beetle  kind  j  whence 


CANTON— CAPE  COD.  65 

come  the  Spanish  flies,  used  in  blisters.  They  have 
feelers  like  bristles,  flexible  cases  to  the  wings,  a  breast 
smooth,  and  the  sides  of  the  belly  wrinkled.  The  larg- 
est are  about  an  inch  long,  aad  as  much  in  circumfer- 
ence, but  others  are  not  above  three  quarters  of  an  inch. 
Some  are  of  a  pure  azure  colour,  others  of  pure  gold, 
and  others  again  have  a  mixture  of  pure  gold  and 
azure  colours ;  but  they  are  all  very  brilliant  and  ex- 
tremely beautiful.  They  are  chiefly  natives  of  Spain, 
Italy,  and  Portugal ;  but  they  are  to  be  met  with  also 
about  Paris,  in  the  summer  time,  upon  the  leaves  of 
the  ash,  the  poplar,  and  the  rose  trees,  and  also  among 
wheat,  and  in  the  meadows. — Goldsmith. 

CANTON,  the  greatest  port  of  China;  situated  on 
the  river  Ta,  fifty  miles  from  its  mouth.  The  city  is 
twenty  miles  in  circumference,  and  contains  about 
two  millions  of  inhabitants  :  in  the  port  are  often  seen 
five  thousand  trading  vessels  at  a  time.  In  different 
parts  of  the  city  and  suburbs  are  temples,  in  which  are 
placed  the  images  worshipped  by  the  Chinese ;  before 
which  are  laid,  at  particular  seasons,  a  vast  variety  of 
sweetmeats,  oranges,  a  great  plenty  of  food  ready  cook- 
ed, and  also  incense  which  is  kept  perpetually  burning. 
In  the  suburbs,  England,  Holland,  France,  Sweden, 
Denmark,  Portugal,  and  Spain,  have  their  factories,  dis- 
tinguished by  the  flags  of  their  nations.  In  Canton  there 
are  no  carriages  :  all  burdens  are  carried  by  porters 
across  their  shoulders  on  bamboos ;  as  are  also  the  prin- 
cipal people  in  sedan  chairs.  On  the  river  live  many 
thousand  souls  who  never  are  permitted  to  come  on 
shore ;  whose  only  habitation  is  their  boat  5  in  which 
they  eat,  drink,  sleep,  and  carry  on  many  occupations.—' 
Morse,  Winterbotham. 

CAPE  COD,  the  south  eastward  part  of  Massachu- 
setts Bay,  which  lies  between  this  and  Cape  Ann.  Cape 
Cod  (which  took  its  name  from  the  multitude  of  codfish 
that  were  found  near  it  when  it  was  first  discovered)  ex- 
tends about  sixty-five  miles  in  length,  and,  for  almost 
half  that  distance,  is  not  more  than  three  miles  in 
breadth.  The  harbor  near  the  point  was  the  first  port 
entered  by  the  English  when  they  came  to  settle  New- 
G  £ 


66  CARAVAN— GAUDS-PLAYING. 

England,  in  1620.  Captain  Bartholomew  Gosnold  first 
discovered  this  Cape,  in  the  year  1602 ;  where  going 
ashore,  a  young  Indian,  with  plates  of  copper  hanging 
to  his  ears,  and  a  bow  and  arrows  in  his  hand,  came  to 
him,  and  in  a  friendly  manner  offered  his  service.  Soon 
after,  more  of  the  natives  made  them  a  visit.  One  of 
them  had  a  plate  of  copper  over  his  breast,  a  foot  in 
length  and  half  a  foot  in  breadth  ;  the  others  had  pen- 
dants of  the  same  metal  at  their  ears  :  they  all  had  pipes 
and  tobacco,  of  which  they  were  fond.— Belknap. 

CARAVAN,  a  company  of  merchants  or  traders, 
travelling  together  through  desarts,  or  other  dangerous 
places  in  the  East,  for  their  mutual  defence  and  safety. 
Their  beasts  of  burden  are  camels,  and  they  are  com- 
monly escorted  by  a  chief  or  aga,  with  a  body  of  Jani- 
zaries [soldiers.]  A  caravan  which  M.  Volney  accom- 
panied, in  1783,  consisted,  he  said,  of  about  3000  camels, 
and  five  or  six  thousand  men.  In  some  parts  of  Asia 
and  Africa,  commerce  has,  from  time  immemorial, 
been  carried  on  by  caravans  5  which  sometimes  have 
been  robbed  and  destroyed  by  Arabian  freebooters,  and 
sometimes  overwhelmed  by  storms  of  sand.  The  com- 
pany consisting  of  Ishmaelites,  with  their  camels  bearing 
spicery,  and  balm,  and  myrrh,  going  to  carry  it  down  to 
Egypt,  was  properly  a  caravan.  In  the  year  1557,  there 
v/as  a  celebrated  pillage  of  the  caravan  of  Mecca,  by  the 
Arabs.  Sixty  thousand  pilgrims  were  plundered  and 
dispersed  over  the  desart,  a  great  number  destroyed  by 
sword  and  famine,  immense  riches  lost,  and  many  per- 
sons reduced  to  slavery. 

CARDS-PLAYING,  first  invented,  it  is  said  in 
France,  in  the  year  1390,  as  an  amusement  for  Charles 
VI.  When  cards  are  employed  not  as  a  mere  amuse- 
ment, but  as  the  means  of  acquiring  estate,  it  is  called 
gambling  ;  a  practice  that  places  its  votaries  on  the  high 
road  to  ruin.  An  intelligent  spectator,  published,  some 
few  years  ago^  in  a  German  gazette,  as  the  result  of  his 
examination,  that,  at  Hamburgh,  within  the  period  of 
two  years,  of  six  hundred  individuals  who  were  in  the 
practice  of  frequenting  gambling  houses,  nearly  one 
half  not  only  lost  considerable  sums,  but  were  finally 


CARLINE  THISTLE— CARNABIS— CARTHAGE.  67 

stripped  of  all  means  of  subsistence,  and  ended  their 
days  by  self-murder ;  and  that,  of  the  rest,  not  less  than 
an  hundred  finished  their  career  by  becoming  swind- 
lers, or  robbers  on  the  highway. 

CARLINE  THISTLE.  The  seeds  of  this  and  of 
many  other  plants  of  the  same  class  are  furnished  with 
a  plume,  by  which  admirable  mechanism  they  perform 
long  aerial  journies,  crossing  lakes  and  desarts,  and  are 
thus  disseminated  far  from  the  original  plant,  and  have 
much  the  appearance  of  a  shuttlecock  as  they  fly.  The 
wings  are  of  different  constructions,  some  being  like  a 
divergent  tuft  of  hair,  others  are  branched  like  feathers, 
some  are  elevated  from  the  crown  of  the  seed  by  a  slen- 
der foot-stalk,  which  gives  them  a  very  elegant  appear- 
ance, others  sit  immediately  on  the  crown  of  the  seed.— 
Darwin. 

CARNABIS,  or  Chinese  Hemp.  This  is  a  new  spe- 
cies of  hemp,  of  which  an  account  is  given  by  R.  Fitz- 
gerald, esquire,  in  a  letter  to  Sir  Joseph  Banks,  and 
which  is  believed  to  be  much  superior  to  the  hemp  of 
other  countries.  A  few  seeds  of  this  plant  were  sown 
in  England  on  the  fourth  of  June,  and  grew  to  fourteen 
feet  eleven  inches  in  height  by  the  middle  of  October ; 
they  were  nearly  seven  inches  in  circumference,  and 
bore  many  lateral  branches,  and  produced  very  white 
and  tougli  fibres.  At  some  parts  of  the  time  these 
plants  grew  nearly  seven  inches  in  a  week. — Darwin. 

CARTHAGE,  a  famous  city  of  antiquity,  founded 
by  the  Phenicians,  from  eight  to  nine  hundred  years  be- 
fore the  Christian  era  ;  and  which,  for  a  very  longtime, 
disputed  with  Rome  the  sovereignty  of  the  world.  It 
was  situated  at  the  bay  of  Tunis,  directly  opposite  to 
Rome,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Tiber.  Carthage  is  said 
to  have  been  twenty -three  miles  in  circumference  :  here 
\vas  a  temple  ot  Apollo,  in  which  was  a  statue  of  the 
god  all  of  massy  gold.  The  Carthagenians  applied  them- 
selves, with  great  diligence  and  skill  to  maritime  affairs, 
and  were  formidable  by  sea,  at  the  time  of  Cyrus.  They 
conquered  a  great  part  of  Spain,  and  the  mines  of  that 
country  were  a  principal  source  of  their  wealth.  The 


G8  CARTHAGENA, 

whole  island  of  Sardinia  and  part  of  Sicily  were  subject 
to  them  5  and  they  extended  their  power  over  all  or 
most  of  the  islands  of  the  Mediterranean.  After  sev- 
eral long  and  bloody  wars  with  the  Romans,  the  city  of 
Carthage  was  taken  and  destroyed  by  them,  about 
one  hundred  and  forty-  six  years  before  the  nativity  of 
our  Saviour.  The  Romans,  by  a  dishonorable  strata- 
gem, first  induced  the  citizens  of  Carthage  to  deliver 
up  their  arms  and  military  engines,  and  then  informed 
them  that  their  city  must*  be  demolished.  On  hearing 
this  cruel  decree,  the  Carthagenians  shut  their  gates. 
Indignation  and  rage  rendered  them  desperate,  and 
their  ingenuity  supplied  them  with  expedients.  They 
applied  themselves  to  the  manufacture  of  arms,  witK 
which  they  supplied  their  need  with  amazing  prompt- 
ness. Patriotism  fired  the  female  breast ;  and  ladies  of 
the  first  rank  voluntarily  cut  off  their  hair  to  make  cords 
for  working  the  military  machines.  Thus  Carthage, 
notwithstanding  the  disadvantages  under  which  it  la- 
bored, sustained  a  long  siege  of  the  Roman  army,  and 
fell  at  last  through  the  treachery  of  Asdrubal,  the  Car- 
thagenian  general.  The  city  was  entirely  demolished 
.by  the  merciless  conquerors;  its  plunder,  according 
to  Pliny,  amounting  to  four  million  four  hundred  and 
seventy  thousand  pounds  weight  of  silver. 

CARTHAGENA,  the  principal  seaport  town  of  Ter- 
ra Firma,  in  South  America :  it  is  large  and  rich,  but 
extremely  unhealthy.  An  unsuccessful  attempt  was 
made  upon  this  Spanish  town,  in  the  year  1741,  by  a 
British  fleet ;  commanded  by  admiral  Vernon  5  among* 
which,  as  they  were  lying  in  the  harbor,  a  pestilential 
fever  spread  death  and  destruction.  Thompson  says, 

, "You,  gallant  Vernon,  saw 

44  The  miserable  sceno;  you  pitying,  saw 
*'  To  infant-weakness  sunk  the  warrior's  arm  ; 
"  Saw  thp  deep-racking  pang,  the  ghastly  form, 
"The  lip  pale-quivering,  and  the  beamless  eye 
"No  more  with  ardor  bright;  you  heard  the  groans 
"  Of  agonizing  ships,  from  shore  to  shore,"  &c. 


€ASHMERE— CASPIAN  SEA.  69 

Lawrence  Washington,  as  is  stated  by  judge  Marshall, 
was  among  the  Americans,  or  provincials,  who  engaged 
in  the  expedition  against  Carthagena ;  and  in  compli- 
ment to  the  admiral,  by  whom  he  had  been  particularly 
noticed,  he  called  his  estate  on  the  Patomac,  Mount 
Vernon.  Dying,  in  the  year  1754,  he  left  this  estate  to 
his  brother,  George  Washington,  of  immortal  renown, 
who  at  that  time  was  twenty -two  years  of  age. 

CASHMERE,  a  small  country  in  Asia,  called  by  the 
Moguls,  the  Paradise  of  the  Indies.  It  is  confined  to  a 
valley  about  seventy  miles  in  length,  and  forty  in 
breadth ;  and  the  whole  country  resembles  a  garden,  in- 
terspersed with  many  towns  and  villages ;  intersected 
by  numerous  canals  ^  and  planted  with  every  kind  of 
vegetable  that  can  perfume  the  air,  delight  the  eye,  or 
please  the  taste.  The  inhabitants  have  a  tradition  of 
the  general  deluge,  and  are  worshippers  of  the  one 
God  5  they  are  most  ingenious  manufacturers,  particu- 
larly of  shawls ;  which  they  make,  some  of  goats'  hair, 
and  some,  as  Volney  says,  of  the  wool  of  lambs,  torn 
from  the  belly  of  the  dam,  before  the  time  of  birth.  The 
most  beautiful  shawls,  says  this  author,  are  brought 
from  Cashmere  5  their  price  is  from  six  guineas  to  fifty 
pounds  sterling. 

CASPIAN  SEA,  a  great  inland  sea  of  Asia,  border- 
ing on  Persia,  and  on  the  Russian  empire ;  extending 
C80  miles  in  length,  and  in  no  part  more  than  £60  miles 
in  breadth  :  its  waters  are  brackish,  but  it  has  no  tides. 
Many  circumstances  combine  to  justify  the  opinion  of 
the  change  which  the  Caspian  has  undergone,  and  par- 
ticularly, of  the  gradual  diminution  of  its  waters.  The 
shells  which  are  scattered  over  this  country,  and  which 
are  the  same  that  are  tound  in  the  bottom  of  the  Caspian, 
and  which  we  never  find  in  the  rivers,  the  salt  which 
remains  in  the  soil,  the  salt  ponds  scattered  over  these 
countries,  the  extent  of  flat  countries  in  these  districts, 
are  incontestible  proofs  that  they  must  have  been  cover- 
ed formerly  with  the  waters  of  the  Caspian. — 
Pallas. 


70  CASSIOPEA'S  CHAIR— CAT— CATACOMBS. 

'  CASSIOPEA'S  CHAIR,  a  constellation  in  the  heav- 
ens, so  called.  In  the  year  1572,  a  new  star  appeared 
in  the  chair  of  Cassiopea,  which,  at  first,  surpassed  the 
planet  Jupiter  in  magnitude  and  brightness ;  it  dimin- 
ished by  degrees,  andi  disappeared  in  eighteen  months : 
it  alarmed  all  the  astronomers  of  the  age.1 — Darwin. 

CAT,  a  domestic  animal,  whose  good  and  ill  qualities 
are  too  generally  known  to  need  a  description.  The  an- 
cient Egyptians  paid  a  religious  homage  to  this  little 
animal ;  and  among  them  nothing  could  more  expose  a 
man  to  popular  rage,  than  killing  a  cat.  The  following 
is,  in  substance,  related  by  Diodorus  Siculus,  as  a  fact 
of  which  he  was  an  eye-witness.  While  ambassadors 
from  Rome,  which  was  at  that  time  the  proud  mis- 
tress of  the  world,  were  in  Egypt,  and  were  treated 
by  the  Egyptians,  not  only  with  all  the  courtesy  of  re- 
spect, but  with  all  the  servility  of  fear,  one  of  their  at- 
tendants happening  unintentionally  to  kill  a  cat,  this  cir- 
cumstance excited  such  a  general  horror  and  indigna- 
tion, that  neither  the  remonstrances  of  the  officers  sent 
by  Ptolemy  their  king,  nor  the  fear  of  the  Romans,  could 
save  the  unhappy  man  from  the  fury  of  the  populace. 
"  What  is  called  the  WiH  Cat,  is  an  animal  in  most  re- 
spects similar  to  our  common  cats  ;  but  different  in  its 
disposition  and  dimensions.  It  is  much  larger,  strong- 
er, and  fiercer,  than  any  of  our  domestic  cats  :  and  seems 
to  be  of  the  same  disposition  and  colour,  as  the  wolf." 
Strings  for  musical  instruments,  of  superior  and  unri- 
valled excellence,  are  made  of  cat-gut. 

CATACOMBS,  the  sepulchres  of  the  ancient  Egyp- 
tians, in  which  are  contained  their  mummies,  or  em- 
balmed bodies.  These  catacombs  are  within  nine 
leagues  of  Grand  Cairo :  they  lie  in  a  field,  covered 
with  a  fine  running  sand,  of  a  yellowish  colour :  the  en- 
trance being  choaked  up  with  sand.  After  clearing 
away  the  sand,  and  coming  to  a  little  square  opening, 
they  descend  into  the  catacomb.  When  one  gets  to 
the  bottom, 'which  is  sometimes  forty  feet  below  me  sur- 
iace,  there  are  several  square  openings  on  each  side, 
into  passages  often  or  fifteen  feet  wide,  and  these  lead 
to  chambers  of  fifteen  or  twenty  feet  square.  These 


CATAMOUNT— CAT  ANE  A.  7 1 

are  all  hewn  out  into  the  rock  ;  and  in  each  of  the  cata- 
combs are  to  be  found  several  of  these  apartments,  com- 
municating with  one  another.  It  is  altogether  proba- 
ble that  the  high  preservation  in  which  the  dead  bodies 
have  been  kept  in  Egypt,  for  thousands  of  years,  has 
been  partly  owing  to  the  drjness  of  the  atmosphere, 
and  the  nature  of  the  earth  or  sand  where  they  were  de- 
posited. It  is  well  known  that  the  men  and  animals 
that  are  buried  in  the  sands  of  Arabia,  quickly  dry  up, 
and  continue  in  preservation  for  several  ages,  as  if  they 
had  been  actually  embalmed.  If  the  earth  in  which  a 
human  body  is  buried,  be  dry  and  astringent,  it  will  im- 
bibe the  humidity  of  the  body  5  and  it  may  be  probably 
for  this  reason  that  the  bodies  buried  in  the  monastery 
of  the  Cordeliers,  at  Thoulouse  in  France,  do  notputri- 
fy,  but  dry  in  such  a  manner  that  one  may  lift  them  up 
by  one  &rin.~Goldsmith. 

CATAMOUNT,  one  of  the  most  fierce  and  danger- 
ous quadrupeds  of  North  America.  It  is  supposed  to 
be  the  same  animal,  which  the  ancients  called  lynx,  and 
which  is  known  in  Siberia  by  the  name  of  ounce.  In 
the  form  of  its  body  it  much  resembles  a  common  cat ; 
it  is  generally  of  a  yellow  colour,  bordering  upon  a  red 
or  sandy  5  and  is  larger  than  the  largest  dogs.  Some 
years  ago,  a  catamount,  atBennington,  in  Vermont,  took 
a  large  calf  out  of  a  pen,  where  the  fence  was  four  feet 
high,  and  carried  it  off  upon  his  back.  With  this  load 
it  ascended  a  ledge  of  rocks,  where  one  of  the  leaps 
was  fifteen  feet  in  height.  Two  hunters  finding  the 
catamount  upon  a  tree,  one  of  them  discharged  his 
musket,  and  wounded  it  in  the  leg.  It  descended  with 
the  utmost  agility  and  fury ;  did  not  attack  the  men, 
but  seized  their  dog  by  one  of  his  ribs,  broke  it  off  in 
the  middle,  and  instantly  leaped  up  the  tree  again  with 
astonishing  swiftness  and  dexterity.  The  other  hunter 
shot  him  through  the  head,  but  his  fury  did  not  cease 
but  with  the  last  remains  of  life. — Williams. 

CAT  ANE  A,  a  city  of  Sicily,  destroyed  by  an  earth- 
quake, in  the  year  1693.  A  traveller  who  was  on  his 
way  to  that  city,  at  a  few  miles  distance  perceived  a 
black  cloud,  like  night,  hanging  over  the  place.  The 


72  CAYENNE— CELEBES. 

sea,  all  of  a  sudden,  began  to  roar  ;"Mount  Etna  to  send 
forth  great  spires  of  flame  $  and,  soon  after,  a  shock  en- 
sued, with  a  noise  as  if  the  artillery  in  all  the  world  had 
been  at  once  discharged.  Our  traveller  being  obliged 
to  alight,  instantly  felt  himself  raised  a  foot  from  the 
ground ;  and,  turning  his  eyes  to  the  city,  he,  with 
amazement,  saw  nothing  but  a  thick  cloud  of  dust  in 
the  air.  Its  place  only  was  to  be  found  ;  and  not  a  foot- 
step of  its  former  magnificence  was  to  be  seen  remain- 
ing. Although  the  shock  did  not  continue  above  three 
minutes,  yet  near  nineteen  thousand  of  the  inhabitants 
of  Sicily  perished  in  the  ruins. — Goldsmith. 

CAYENNE,  a  province  in  South  America,  belong- 
ing to  the  French,  and  is  the  only  part  of  the  American 
continent  which  they  possess  \  bounded  north  and  east 
by  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  Anthony  Biet,  superior  of  the 
missionary  priests,  who,  in  the  year  1652,  went  over  to 
Cayenne,  gives  this  testimony  concerning  the  manners 
of  the  natives.  "  The  mother  (says  Biet)  takes  great 
delidit  in  nursing  her  child.  They  are  fond  of  their 
children  to  excess.  They  bathe  them  regularly  every 
day  in  a  fountain  or  river.  They  do  not  swaddle  them, 
but  put  them  to  sleep  in  a  little  bed  of  cotton,  made  ex- 
pressly for  the  purpose.  They  always  leave  them  quite 
naked :  their  progress  in  growth  is  perfectly  wonder- 
ful ;  some  are  able  to  walk  alone  at  the  age  of  eight 
or  nine  months.  They  never  chide  nor  beat  their  chil- 
dren 5  and  they  express  great  astonishment  'when  they 
see  any  of  our  people  (the  French)  correcting  their 
children." — St.  Pierre. 

CELEBES,  an  island  in  the  Indian  Ocean,  called  the 
Island  qjf  Poisons  :  together  with  other  poisonous  ve- 
getables, it  produces  the  tree,  called  by  the  natives,  ipo, 
or  upas.  Such  is  the  deleterious  activity  of  this  tree, 
that  it  is  unrivalled  in  its  power  of  destruction.  From 
the  sober  narrative  of  liumphias,  we  learn  that  no  other 
vegetable  can  live  within  a  nearer  distance  than  a 
stone's  throw ;  that  birds  accidentally  lighting  upon 
its  branches,  are  immediately  killed  by  the  poisonous 
atmosphere  which  surrounds  it ;  and  that,  in  order  to 
procure  the  juice  with  safety,  it  is  necessary  to  cover 


CELESTIAL  BIRD— CELESTIAL  FRAME.   75 

the  whole  body  with  a  thick  cotton  cloth.  If  a  person 
approach  it  bare  headed,  it  causes  the  hair  to  fall  oft"; 
and  a  drop  of  the  fresh  juice  applied  on  the  skin,  it  it 
do  not  produce  immediate  death,  will  cause  an  ulcer 
very  difficult  to  be  cured. — Miller. 

CELESTIAL  BIRD,  a  species  of  goldfinch  in  China, 
which  has  obtained  this  name  for  its  surpassing  beauty, 
and  melody.  Its  eyes  sparkle  like  the  most  brilliant 
ruby ;  it  has  an  azure  ring  round  its  neck,  and  a  tuft 
of  party-coloured  feathers  on  its  head.  Its  wings,  when 
it  is  perched,  appear  variegated  with  beautiful  shades  of 
blue,  green,  and  yellow.  It  makes  its  nests  in  close 
thickets  5  it  conceals  itself  in  time  of  rain ;  but  as  soon 
as  the  rays  of  the  sun  begin  to  dart  through  the  clouds 
it  immediately  quits  its  retreat,  and,  by  its  warbling, 
proclaims  to  the  laborers  the  return  of  fine  weather. — - 
fPinterbptkam. 

CELESTIAL  FRAME,  or  Construction  of  the  Heav- 
ens. The  celebrated  astronomer,  Dr.  Herschell,  has 
given  a  very  sublime  and  curious  account  of  the  con- 
struction 61  the  heavens,  with  his  discovery  of  some  thou- 
sands of  nebulee,  or  clouds  of  stars ;  many  of  which  are 
much  larger  collections  of  stars  than  all  those,  put  togeth- 
er, which  are  visible  to  our  naked  eyes,  added  to  those 
that  form  the  galaxy,  or  milky  zone,  which  surrounds 
us.  He  observes,  that  in  the  vicinity  of  those  clusters  of 
stars,  there  are  proportionally  fewer  stars  than  in  the 
other  parts  of  me  heavens ;  and  hence  he  concludes 
that  they  have  attracted  each  other,  on  the  supposition 
that  infinite  space  was  at  first  equally  sprinkled  with 
them.  Mr.  Herschell  thinks  he  has  further  shown,  that 
the  whole  sidereal  system  is  gradually  moving  round 
some  centre,  which  may  be  an  opaque  mass  of  matter. 
— Miller.  Nor  is  Mr.  Herschell  alone  in  this  opinion. 
In  the  new  London  Review,  it  is  remarked  ;  that "  it  is 
the  opinion  of  some  celebrated  astronomers,  that  some 
stupendous  body,  amazingly  exceeding  the  magnitude 
of  our  sun,  or  of  our  whole  solar  system,  may  be  the 
centre  of  motion  to  the  UNIVERSE,  which  may  be 
presumed  to  have  its  centre,  as  the  distinct  systems 
contained  in  it  have  theirs." 
H 


74  CERE  A— CERES— CEYLON. 

CERE  A,  a  flowering  plant  of  an  extraordinary  kind, 
and  is  a  native  of  Jamaica.  It  expands  a  most  exqui- 
sitely beautiful  flower,  and  emits  a  most  fragrant  odour 
for  a  few  hours  in  the  night,  and  then  closes  to  open  no 
more.  The  flower  is  nearly  a  foot  in  diameter  ;  the  in- 
side of  the  calyx  of  a  splendid  yellow,  and  the  numer- 
ous petals  of  a  pure  white.  It  begins  to  open  about 
seven  or  eight  o'clock  in  the  evening,  and  closes  before 
sun -rise  in  the  morning. — Martyn. 

CERES,  or  PiazzL  a  primary  plannet  between  Mars 
and  Jupiter  :  it  was  discovered  by  Mr.  Piazzi  of  Paler- 
mo, on  the  first  of  January,  1801.  Its  diameter,  accord- 
ing to  Dr.  Herschell,  is  only  one  hnndred  and  sixty 
miles.  It  appears  like  a  star  of  the  seventh  or  eighth 
magnitude.  Its  distance  from  the  sun  is  about  two 
hundred  and  twenty-six  million  miles,  and  its  periodic 
revolution  is  performed  in  one  thousand  six  hundred 
and  eighty-three  days.  Ceres  is  also  the  name  of  a  de- 
ified woman,  of  the  island  of  Sicily,  who  has  had  the 
credit  of  being  the  first  that  showed  the  Europeans  the 
use  of  corn ;  on  which  account  the  ancient  Grecians 
and  Romans  placed  her  among  the  Gods. 

CEYLON,  an  island  in  the  Indian  Ocean  ;  about 
eighty  leagues  long,  and  forty -five  wide ;  separated 
from " the  peninsula  of  India  by  a  narrow  sea  of  about 
sixty  miles  width,  which  is  so  shallow  Tind  rocky,  that 
in  the  opinion  of  Grandpre,  this  island,  in  process  of 
time,  will  be  united  with  the  continent.  Ceylon  is  ex- 
ceedingly fertile,  and  produces  cinnamon,  ginger,  pep- 
per, sugar,  cotton,  and  all  the  fruits  of  the  Indies.  It 
had  belonged  to  the  Dutch  ;  but,  in  1796,  it  surrender- 
ed to  the  English.  The  method  of  killing  deer  in  the 
island  of  Ceylon  is  very  singular.  The  huntsmen  go 
out  in  the  night,  and  only  two  usually  go  together :  the 
one  of  these  carries  upon  his  head  an  earthern  vessel,  in 
which  there  is  some  fire  burning  and  flaming ;  the  in- 
gredients are  generally  small  sticks  cut  into  pieces, 
and  common  rosin.  The  person  who  has  the  fire  upon 
his  head,  carries  in  one  hand  a  staff,  on  which  there  are 
fixed  a  number  of  bells.  This  man  goes  first  into  the 
woods,  aud  the  other  follows  close  behind  with  a  spear 


CHACTAWS— CHAIMOIS  GOAT.          7$ 

in  his  hand.  As  soon  as  the  deer  hears  the  noise  of  the 
bells,  he  turns  towards  the  place  from  whence  the  sound 
comes ;  and  seeing  the  fire,  lie  eagerly  runs  up  to  it, 
and  stands  gazing  at  a  small  distance  5  the  second  man 
has  then  nothing  to  do  but  to  kill  him  with  the  spear  ; 
for  he  observes  neither  of  the  men,  the  fire  and  bells 
taking  up  his  whole  attention. 

OHACTHWS,  a  cunning,  courageous,  and  powerful 
nation  of  Indians,  inhabiting  a  fertile  country  between 
the  Atabama  and  Mississippi  rivers.  They  are  called 
by  the  traders  flat  heads,  all  the  males  having  the  fore 
and  hind  part  of  their  sculls  actually  flattened  ;  which 
is  done  in  the  following  manner.  Soon  after  the  child 
is  born  he  is  laid  on  his  back,  in  a  case  ;  the  part  where 
the  head  is  placed  having  the  form  of  a  brick-mould. 
Then  there  is  laid  on  the  forehead  of  the  infant  a  bag 
of  sand,  which  by  a  continual  gentle  pressure  gives  the 
head  somewhat  the  form  of  a  brick,  from  the  temples 
upwards  ;  and  by  these  means  they  have  lofty  foreheads, 
sloping  off  backwards.  The  Chactaws  are  slovenly, 
but  industrious;  they  have  large  plantations,  where 
they  employ  much  of  their  time  in  agricultural  im- 
provements.— Bartram. 

CHAIMOIS  GOAT,  a  remarkable  species  of  goat 
that  is  found  in  great  plenty  in  the  mountains  of  Dau- 
phiny,  of  Piedmont,  Swisserland  and  Germany.  They 
are  naturally  shy  and  wild,  but  are  easily  tamed ;  and 
when  tame  become  extremely  gentle.  In  their  wild 
state,  they  are  found  in  flocks,  of  fourscore  or  an  hun- 
dred, dispersed  upon  the  crags  of  the  mountains.  They 
have  a  most  piercing  eye,  and  can  smell  a  man  at  half 
a  league's  distance.  When  danger  is  apprehended,  one 
one  of  the  flock  hisses  with  such  force  that  the  rocks  and 
the  forests  re-echo  to  the  sound;  at  the  same  time 
striking  the  ground  with  its  fore  foot,  and  bounding 
from  rock  to  rock.  This  alarms  the  whole  flock,  and 
they  fly  off,  all  together,  with  the  speed  of  the  wind. — 
These  animals  climb  and  descend  precipices, 'which  to 
all  other  quadrupeds  are  inaccessible  ;  they  throw  them- 
selves down  a  rock  of  thirty  feet,  with  great  security, 
upon  some  excrescence,  or  fragment,  on  the  side  of 


76  CHA1RABES— -CHAMPLAIN. 

the  precipice,  which  is  just  large  enough  to  place  their 
feet  upon.  In  fact  to  see  them  jump  in  this  manner, 
they  seem  rather  to  have  wings  than  legs.  The  hardy 
mountaineers  lie  upon  beds  made  of  the  skins  of  these 
goats ;  they  live  upon  their  milk ;  they  convert  a  part 
of  it  into  butter,  and  some  into  cheese. — Goldsmith. 

CHAIRABES,  the  natives  of  Barbadoes  and  the 
other  windward  islands  in  the  West-Indies,  and  of  Gui- 
ana, on  the  continent  of  South  America.  The  Chairabe 
Indians  were  some  of  the  fiercest  and  most  bloody  sav- 
ages ever  known.  They  devoured  without  remorse 
the  bodies  of  such  of  their  enemies  as  fell  into  their 
hands  5  yet  their  friendship  was  as  warm  as  their  enmi- 
ty was  implacable ;  and  among  themselves  they  were 
peaceable,  and  towards  each  other  faithful  and  affection- 
ate. One  method  of  making  the  boys  skilful,  even  in 
infancy,  in  the  exercise  of  the  bow,  was  to  suspend  their 
food  on  the  branch  of  a  tree,  compelling  the  hardy  ur- 
chins to  pierce  it  with  their  arrows  before  they  could 
obtain  permission  to  eat.  As  soon  as  a  male  child  was 
brought  into  the  world,  he  was  sprinkled  with  some 
drops  of  his  father's  blood ;  the  father  fondly  believing 
that  the  same  degree  of  courage  which  he  had  himself 
displayed,  was  by  these  means  transmitted  to  his  son. 
As  the  boy  grew,  he  was  made  to  feed  on  the  flesh,  and 
was  frequently  anointed  with  the  oil  of  a  slaughtered 
enemy.  When  manhood  dawned,  he  was  putby  his 
own  parents  to  the  most  cruel  tortures  ;  if  he  flinched, 
he  was  disgraced  forever  ;  but  if  he  bore  pain  in  tri- 
umph, without  a  groan,  and  with  a  serene  countenance, 
he  was  applaudeu,  and  enrolled  among  the  warriors  of 
his  tribe.  The  Chairabes  were  a  dreadiul  scourge  to 
the  mild  and  peaceable  natives  of  Hispaniola,  who  were 
often  earned  away  captive,  and  eaten  by  them. — Bryan 
Edwards. 

CHAMPLAIN,  a  lake  that  forms  a  part  of  the  di- 
viding line  between  the  states  of  New-York  and  Ver- 
mont. Reckpning  its  length  from  Fairhaven  to  St. 
John's,  a  course  nearly  north,  it  will  amount  to  about 
two  hundred  miles  5  its  width  is  from  one  to  eighteen 
miles,  being  very  different  in  different  places  5  the 


CHARCOAL—CHARIOT.  77 

mean  width  way  be  computed  at  five  miles.  The  depth 
of  this  lake  is  sufficient  for  the  largest  ships.  The  wa- 
ters which  form  it  are  collected  from  a  large  tract  of 
country,  particularly  from  the  streams  of  Vermont  and 
a  part  of  Canada.  Various  circumstances  have  left  no 
doubt  in  the  minds  of  the  inhabitants  along  the  shore, 
that  the  waters  of  this  lake  were  formerly  much  higher, 
and  spread  to  a  much  greater  extent  than  they  do  now.— 
Williams. 

CHARCOAL,  a  kind  of  coal  that  is  made  of  wood 
half  burnt,  under  a  covering  of  turf  and  dust.  The 
microscope  discovers  a  surprising  number  of  pores  in 
charcoal ;  they  are  disposed  in  order  and  traverse  it 
lengthwise.  If  a  piece  be  broken  pretty  short,  it  may 
be  seen  through  with  the  microscope.  In  a  range  the 
eighteenth  part  of  an  inch  long.  Dr.  Hook  reckoned  one 
hundred  and  fifty  pores.  Charcoal  is  a  powerful  anti- 
septic :  consequently  it  has  lately  become  a  practice  to 
char  casks,  or  to  burn  charcoal  in  them,  before  filling 
them  with  water  for  a  sea-voyage ;  by  this  means,  it  is 
said,  water  may  be  kept  sweet  during  the  longest  voy- 
age. There  is  one  property  of  charcoal,  that  ought  to 
be  universally  known  :  it  is  the  wonderful  power  of  con- 
suming respirable  air.  Mr.  Lavoisier  found  that  one 
pound  of  charcoal,  in  burning,  actually  consumed  two 
pounds  nine  ounces  of  oxygen^  or  vital  air.  Hence  the 
extreme  danger,  or  rather  almost  inevitable  death  of  per- 
sons sleeping  in  a  close  room  with  burning  charcoal  by 
the  bed-side. — Encyclopaedia,  et  cet. 

CHARIOT,  a  covered  four-wheeled  carriage,  sus- 
pended on  leathers  or  springs,  drawn  by  two  or  more 
horses,  and  having  only  back  seats ;  whereas  a  coach 
has  both  back  and  front  seats.  Chariots  are  of  great 
antiquity  $ '  but  coaches  are  of  modern  invention.  A 
few  centuries  ago  there  were  but  two  even  at  Paris, 
one  of  which  belonged  to  the  queen,  and  the  other  to 
Diana,  natural  daughter  of  Henry  II.  In  England,  as 
low  as  queen  Elizabeth's  time,  the  nobility  of  both  sex- 
es attended  her  in  procession  on  horseback ;  and  she 
herself  used  to  ride  out  upon  a  pillion,  behind  her  prime 
minister.  Chariots  were  anciently  used  for  war,  rather 
H  2 


79  CHEROKEES— CHERRY  TREE. 

than  for  pleasure.  The  war  chariots  used  by  the  an- 
cient Britons,  were  open  vehicles  drawn  by  two  or  more 
horses,  with  scythes  at  the  wheels,  and  spears  at  the 
pole.  Mr.  Ferguson  has  demonstrated  the  absurdity  of 
using  small  wheels  in  the  fore  part  of  four-wheeled  car- 
riages, whether  chariots,  coaches  or  waggons.  "  It  is 
"  plain,  (says  that  celebrated  mathematician)  that  the 
"  neight  of  any  obstacle  bears  a  much  greater  propor- 
ft  tion  to  the  semidiameter  of  a  small  wheel  than  to  that 
"  of  a  large  one ;  and  the  greater  this  proportion  is,  so 
*  much  the  more  power  will  be  required  to  pull  a  small 
«  wheel  out  of  a  hole,  or  over  an  obstacle,  than  would 
"  be  sufficient  for  a  large  one.  And  supposing  the  small 
"  fore  wheel  of  a  carriage  to  fall  in  a  hole  as  deep  a$ 
*;  the  semidiameter  of  the  wheel,  all  the  power  of  men 
K  and  horses  could  not  then  draw  the  carriage  without 
"  pulling  away  the  ground  before  it  ;  whereas  if  only 
"  the  big  hind  wheel  were  to  fall  into  such  a  hole,  it 
"  would  be  drawn  out  with  much  less  difficulty."  It  is 
also  plain,  that  people  in  a  carriage  with  large  wheels 
are  much  less  jolted,  as  these  wheels  sink  to  less  depths 
in  the  little  hollows  of  the  road  than  small  wheels  do. 

CHEROKEES,  a  once  celebrated  but  now  declining 
•nation  of  Indians;  inhabiting  the  northern  parts  of 
Georgia  and  the  southern  parts  of  Tennessee.  In  their 
disposition  and  manners  they  are  grave  and  steady ;  they 
are  dignified  and  circumspect  in  their  deportment;  ra- 
ther slow  and  reserved  in  conversation,  yet  frank,  cheer- 
ful and  humane  ;  tenacious  of  their  natural  rights  and 
liberties  :  secret,  deliberate,  and  determined  in  their 
councils  ;  honest,  just,  and  liberal ;  and  are  always  ready 
to  sacrifice  every  pleasure  and  gratification,  even  their 
blood  and  life,  to  defend  their  territory  and  maintain 
their  rights.  They  do  homage  fo  the  Creeks  with  re- 
luctance. The  Creeks,  their  conquerors,  'have  been 
heard  to  tell  them,  that  they  are  old  women,  and  that 
they  have  long  ago  obliged  them  to  wear  the  petticoat. 
This  insulting  language  the  Cherokees  are  constrained 
to  bear,  although  it  cuts  them  to  the  heart. — Bartram. 

CHERRY  TREE.  This  tree  which  is  very  common 
in  the  United  States,  produces  a  pleasant  and  useful 


CHESNUT  TREE— CHILI.  79 

fruit,  and  yet  its  branches  are  sometimes  poisonous. 
Our  farmers  have  often  been  taught  by  dear-bought 
experience,  that  cherry  tree  sprouts  and  boughs,  (the 
wild  cherry  especially)  cut  down  and  withered  a  little 
by  the  sun,  will,  at  some  seasons  of  the  year,  cause  cer- 
tain and  speedy  death  to  the  cattle  that  eat  them. 

CHESNUT  TREE,  a  tree  that  is  common  in  the 
United  States,  and  highly  valuable  both  for  its  timber 
and  fruit :  it  sometimes  grows  to  a  prodigious  size.  In 
the  Gentleman's  Magazine,  of  1770,  we  are  told  of  a 
Spanish  chesnut,  measuring  fifty-seven  feet  in  circum- 
ference, which  grows  in  Gloucestershire  in  England. 
It  is  supposed  by  Evylin  and  Bradley  to  ha^e  been 
planted  in  the  reign  of  king  John,  from  mention  of  it  in 
records  of  that  antiquity ;  and  if  so,  it  must  have  been 
about  six  hundred  years  old.  According  to  Dr.  Ho  well, 
the  famous  chesnut  tree  of  Mount  Etna  is  one  hundred 
and  sixty  feet  in  circumference,  but  quite  hollow  within  5 
which,  however,  aftects  not  its  verdure ;  for  the  chesnufc 
tree,  like  the  willow,  depends  upon  its  bark  for  subsist- 
ence, and  by  age  loses  its  internal  part.  In  the  cavity 
of  this  tree  the  people  have  constructed  a  commodious 
house,  which  they  use  for  various  purposes  :  it  is  called 
the  tree  of  a  hundred  horses,  as  so  many  may  at  one  time 
be  sheltered  under  its  boughs.  The  wood  of  the  ches- 
nut tree  (says  St.  Pierre)  is  never  attacked  by  insects* 
and  is  excellent  for  wainscotting.  A  judgment  (he  adds) 
may  be  formed  of  the  beauty  and  of  the  duration  of  its 
wood,  from  the  ancient  wainscotting  of  the  market  of 
St.  Germain,  in  France  :  whereof  the  joists  are  of  a 
prodigious  length  and  thickness,  and  perfectly  sound, 
though  more  than  four  hundred  years  old. 

CHILI,  a  large  country  in  South  America  :  extend- 
ing in  length  about  twelve  hundred  and  sixty  miles,  and 
in  breadth  five  hundred  and  eighty ;  situated  on  both 
sides  of  the  Andes,  between  twenty -live  and  forty-four 
or  forty-five  degrees  of  south  latitude ;  bounded  by- 
Peru,  by  La  Platas  and  by  the  Pacific  Ocean.  Its  cap- 
ital is  St.  Jago ;  which  is  seated  on  a  river  in  a  large 
beautiful  plain  at  the  foot  of  the  Andes.  The  climate 
of  Chili  is  wholesome,  deriving  a  delightful  tempera- 


SO  CHINA. 

ture  from  the  Andes  ;  the  soil  is  prodigiously  fertile  ;  it 
abounds  with  rich  mines  ;  and  cattle  are  so  plenty  that 
a  well  fatted  ox  may  be  purchased  for  four  dollars. 
The  Indians  of  this  country  have  distinguished  them- 
selves for  their  bravery,  and  by  an  inveterate  hatred  of 
the  Spaniards  ;  and  multitudes  of  them  have  never  sub- 
mitted to  the  Spanish  yoke. 

CHINA,  a  vast  empire  in  Asia,  bordering  on  the  Chi- 
nese Ocean,  and  separated  on  the  north  from  Tartary, 
by  a  wall  nearly  fifteen  hundred  miles  in  length.  It  lies 
between  twenty  and  forty- one  degrees  north  latitude, 
and  is  two  thousand  miles  in  length,  and  fifteen  hundred 
in  breadth.  This  prodigious  empire  is  computed  to  con- 
tain three  hundred  and  thirty -three  millions  of  people. 
At  a  very  early  period,  the  Tartars  (whose  incursions 
are  said  to  have  begun  as  early  as  the  times  of  Joshua) 
conquered  the  whole  empire,  and  they  still  continue  to 
hold  the  sovereignty ;  though  by  adopting  the  Chinese 
manners  and  language,  Tartary  would  seem  rather  to 
have  been  conquered  by  China,  than  China  by  Tartary. 
About  two  hundred  and  thirteen  years  before  the  nativ- 
ity of  our  Saviour,  Shi-Hoang-Ti  became  emperor  of 
China,  with  unlimited  power;  and  in  order  to  prevent 
the  incursions  of  the  northern  barbarians,  he  built  the 
famous  wall  which  separates  China  from  Tartary.  This 
monarch,  forming  the  design  of  making  posterity  be- 
lieve that  he  himself  was  the  first  Chinese  Emperop 
that  ever  sat  upon  the  throne,  ordered  all  the  historical 
writings  to  be  burnt,  and  caused  many  of  the  learned  men 
of  the  empire  to  be  buried  alive.  The  Chinese  have  lit- 
tle respect  for  foreign  trade.  "  Your  beggarly  com- 
merce 1"  was  the  language  in  which  the  Mandarins  of 
Pekin  used  to  talk  to  Mr.  De  Lange,  the  Russian  En- 
voy, concerning  it.  Except  with  Japan,  the  Chinese 
carry  on,  themselves,  and  in  their  own  bottoms,  little  or 
no  foreign  trade  ;  and  it  is  only  in  one  or  two  ports  of 
this  kingdom,  that  they  even  admit  ships  of  foreign  na- 
tions. But  notwithstanding  this,  a  great  part  of  the 
produce  of  the  silver  mines  of  America  has  been  drained 
into  China,  and  for  articles  rather  of  luxury  than  ne- 
cessity. The  commerce  ef  the  Chinese  with  Europe 
amounts  to  fifty  millions  annually,  twenty  millions  of 


€HINA  ONION— CHIN  A  PAPER— CHIN  4  WALL.  81 

which  are  paid  by  the  Europeans  in  silver;  and  the 
only  Chinese  goods  which  the  Europeans  purchase  with 
all  this  wealth,  are  black  and  green  teas,  raw  silk,  and 
China  ware.-  In  the  same  manner  there  is  a  constant 
drain  of  silver,  from  the  United  States  of  America  into 
China;  whence  it  never  returns.— Winterbotham,  Pe- 
rouse. 

CHINA-ONION.  There  is  in  China  a  species  of 
onion,  which  is  not  produced  from  seed,  as  ours  are.. 
Towards  the  close  of  the  season,  some  small  filaments 
spring  from  the  ends  of  the  leaves,  in  the  middle  of 
which  a  white  onion  is  formed,  like  those  that  grow  in 
the  earth.  This  small  onion  again  shoots  forth  leaves 
similar  to  those  that  support  it  ;  and  these  new  leaves 
bear  another  onion  on  their  points,  but  in  such  a  manner, 
that  the  leaves  and  onions  become  smaller  as  they  are 
farther  distant  from  the  ea.rth.—<}FinterbGtham. 

CHINA  PAPER.  The  Chinese,  for  making  paper, 
use  the  bamboo  reed,  the  cotton  shrub,  the  bark  of  the 
kou-chee,  and  of  the  mulberry  tree ;  also  hemp,  the  straw 
of  wheat  and  rice,  the  cods  of  the  silk  worm,  and  several 
other  substances,  the  greater  part  of  which  are  unknown 
in  this  manufacture  in  Europe.  Most  of  the  Chinese 
paper  is  very  susceptible  of  moisture  ;  dust  easily  ad- 
heres to  it,  and  worms  insensibly  get  into  it ;  but  their 
paper  is  much  superior  to  ours  in  softness,  smoothness, 
and  the  extraordinary  size  of  the  sheets ;  it  beiiig  no 
difficult  matter  to  obtain,  from  certain  manufactories, 
sheets  thirty  or  forty  feet  in  length. — Winterbotham. 

CHINA  WALL.  This  astonishing  Wall,  from  twelve 
to  fifteen  hundred  miles  in  length,  was  built  to  prevent 
the  incursions  of  the  Tartars.  It  is  carried  across  rivers, 
and  over  the  steep  brows  of  the  highest  mountains,  with- 
out the  least  interruption.  The  foundation  consists  of 
large  blocks  of  square  stone  laid  in  mortar;  but  all  the 
rest  is  built  with  brick.  When  carried  over  steep  rocks 
it  is  about  fifteen  or  twenty  feet  high,  and  broad  in  pro- 
portion ;  but  when  running  through  a  valley,  or  cross- 
ing a  river,  you  behold  a  strong  wall,  about  thirty  feet 
high,  with  square  towers  at  certain  intervals,  and  em* 


m  CHIRIMOYA— CHIVEN— CLIMACTERIC,  &c. 

brasures  at  equal  distances.  The  top  of  the  wall  is  flat, 
and  paved  with  cut  stone  5  and  where  it  rises  over  a 
rock  or  eminence,  there  is  an  ascent  by  easy  stone  stairs. 
This  wall  was  begun  and  completely  finished  in  the  short 
space  of  five  years  ;  one  third  of  the  able  bodied  men 
in  China  being  employed  in  constructing  it.  It  is  of 
such  prodigious  thickness,  that  six  horsemen  may  easi- 
ly ride  abreast  upon  it. — Winterbotham. 

CHIRIMOYA,  a  Peruvian  fruit,  and  one  of  the  most 
delicious  in  the  world.  Its  dimensions  are  from  one  to 
five  inches  in  diameter  5  its  figure  is  imperfectly  round, 
flatted  towards  the  stalk ;  the  outward  coat  is  green,  and 
contains  a  large  quantity  of  juice  resembling  honey, 
mixed  with  a  gentle  acid  of  a  most  exquisite  flavor. — 
The  tree  is  high  and  tufted,  the  stem  large  and  round, 
and  terminates  in  a  point.  The  blossoms  differ  little 
from  the  colour  of  the  leaves,  which  is  a  darkish  green  ; 
the  fragrance  of  this  tree,  in  bloom,  is  incomparable.-— 
Winterbotham. 

CHIVEN,  the  name  of  the  Evil  Principle,  worship- 
ped in  the  East  Indies.  The  worshipper  of  Chiven  pros- 
trates himself  and  makes  his  offering  in  silence  :  the 
priests  receive  it ;  and  when  he  pays  generously,  they 
apply  to  his  arms  and  forehead,  a  powder  of  either  red, 
\vhite,  black,  or  yellow  colour,  and  sometimes  all  four. — 
Winterbotham. 

CLIMACTERIC,  a  critical  year  in  a  person's  life. 
According  to  some,  this  is  every  seventh  year  ;  but  oth- 
ers allow  only  those  years  produced  by  multiplying  se- 
ven by  the  odd  numbers,  three,  five,  seven,  and  nine,  to 
be  climacterical.  These  years,  they  say,  bring  with  them 
some  remarkable  change  with  respect  to  health  or  life. 
The  Grand  Climacteric  is  the  sixty -third  year  f  but 
some,  making  two,  add  to  this  the  eighty -first ;  the  other 
climacterics  are  the  seventh,  twenty -"first,  thirty -fifth, 
forty -ninth,  and  fifty-sixth.-— Encyclopaedia. 

CLIMATE,  a  word  used,  in  common  language,  to 
denote  the  difference  in  the  seasons  and  temperature  of 
the  air.  Some  countries,  under  the  same  latitude,  have 


CLOCK.  S3 

seasons  differing  from  and  even  opposite  to  each  other. 
Thus  Malabar  and  Coromandel  lie  in  the  same  latitude, 
and  are  not  distant  above  seventy  miles  in  some  places, 
in  others  not  above  twenty,  from  each  other  ;  and  yet 
when  it  is  summer  in  one  of  these  places,  it  is  winter  in 
the  other,  and  so  contrariwise.  The  cultivation  of  the 
earth  produces  a  remarkable  change  of  climate,  or  in 
the  state  of  the  atmosphere.  The  bays  and  rivers  in 
New-England,  are  not  frozen  so  hard,  or  so  long,  as  they 
were  at  the  first  settlement  of  the  country.  At  the  first 
settlement  of  Philadelphia,  the  river  Delaware  was  com- 
monly covered  with  ice,  about  the  middle  of  November, 
old  style  5  it  is  not  now  covered  with  ice,  until  the  first 
week  in  January.  Similar  observations  have  been  made 
with  respect  to  the  ice  in  Hudson's  river,  and  indeed  in 
almost  every  part  of  the  higher  latitudes  of  North  Amer- 
ica, where  settlements  and  cultivation  have  taken  place. 
A  permanent  alteration  in  the  temperature  of  the  cli- 
mate, supposes  an  alteration  equally  great  and  perma- 
nent in  the  earth.  The  eftect  of  cultivation  with  regard 
to  the  heat  of  the  earth,  (collected  from  experiments) 
appears  to  be  this.  The  exposure  of  the  land  to  the  full 
force  of  the  solar  rays,  will  produce  a  heat  at  the  depth 
of  ten  inches  below  the  surface,  ten  or  eleven  degrees 
greater  than  that  which  prevails  in  the  uncultivated 
parts  of  the  country ;  and  this  effect  will  continue  while 
the  solar  rays  are  sufficient  to  heat  the  earth.  This  ad- 
ditional heat  in  the  earth  will  be  sufficient  to  produce 
the  same  alteration  in  the  temperature  of  the  air  $  for 
whatever  degree  of  heat  prevails  in  the  earth,  nearly 
the  same  will  be  communicated  to  the  lower  parts  of  the 
atmosphere. —  Worthington^  Williams. 

CLOCK,  a  machine,  moving  by  a  pendulum,  serving 
to  measure  time,  and  to  show  the  hours  by  striking  on 
a  bell.  Al-Raschied,  an  Arabian  ambassador,  brought 
into  France,  in  the  year  802,  a  striking  clock,  the  first 
ever  seen  in  that  kingdom.  At  that  time,  the  Arabs 
were  much  superior  to  the  French  and  other  Europe- 
ans, in  knowledge,  and  in  the  arts.  Huggins  was  the 
first  person  who  brought  the  art  of  clock  making  to  any 
perfection ;  and  the  first  pendulum  clock  made  in  Eng- 
land, was  in  the  year  1662,  by  Fromantil,  a  Dutchman, 


34    CLOTH  TREE— CLOVE  TREE—SNAKE. 

CLOTH  TREE,  a  remarkable  and  very  useful  tree, 
growing  in  the  Sandwich  Islands  :  the  natives  call  it 
fouta.  Of  the  bark  of  this  tree,  neatly  twisted,  they  form 
the  twine  which  they  use  for  fishing  lines,  for  making 
nets,  and  for  some  other  uses.  It  is  of  different  degrees 
of  firmness,  and  may  be  continued  to  any  length.  They 
have  also  a  finer  sort,  which  they  make  of  the  bark  of  a 
shrub  named  areemah  ;  and  they  make  a  cordage  of  a 
stronger  kind,  from  cocoa-nut  fibres,  for  the  rigging  of 
their  canoes.-—  Cookers  Voyage. 

CLOVE  TREE,  a  tree  about  twenty  feet  in  height, 
bearing  the  aromatic  fruit  called  clove  ;  this  tree  has 
grown  in  greatest  abundance  in  Ternati^  an  island  of 
the  Indian  Ocean,  being  the  principal  of  the  Moluccas, 
or  Spice  Islands.  In  this  Island,  (belonging  to  the 
Dutch,)  which  has  been  long  celebrated  for  its  beauty 
and  healthful  ness,  the  clove  trees  grew  in  such  plenty, 
that  they  in  some  measure  lessened  their  own  value. 
For  this  reason  the  Dutch  resolved  to  cut  down  the  for- 
ests, and  thus  to  raise  the  price  of  the  commodity.  But 
they  soon  had  reason  to  repent  of  their  avarice  ;  for  such 
a  change  ensued  by  cutting  down  the  trees,  that  the 
whole  island,  from  being  healthy  and  delightful,  having 
lost  its  charming  shades,  became  extremely  sickly,  and 
has  actually  continued  so  to  this  d&y.— 'Goldsmith. 

COACH-WHIP  SNAKE,  a  beautiful  and  harmless 
kind  of  snake,  common  in  East-Florida.  When  full 
grown  they  are  six  or  seven  feet  in  length,  and  the 
largest  part  of  their  body  not  so  thick  as  a  cane  or  com- 
mon walking  stick  ;  their  head  not  larger  than  the  end 
of  a  man's  finger.  Their  neck  is  very  slender,  and  from 
the  abdomen  the  body  tapers  away  in  the  manner  of  a 
small  switch  or  coach-whip  :  the  top  of  the  head  and 
neck,  for  three  or  four  inches,  is  as  black  and  shining 
as  a  raven  5  the  throat  and  belly  as  white  as  snow;  and 
the  upper  side  of  their  body  of  a  chocolate  colour, 
excepting  the  tail  part,  which  is  black.  They  are  ex- 
tremely swift,  seeming  almost  to  fly  over  the  surface  of 
the  ground  ;  and  they  can  run  swiftly  on  only  their  tail, 
carrying  their  head  and  body  upright.  With  respect 
to  venom  they  are  as  innocent  a*  a  worm,  and  see^n  to 


COCHIN-CHINA— COCHINEAL—COCOA  TREE,  &e.  85 

be  familiar  with  man  ;  for  sometimes  they  will  accom- 
pany a  man  on  horseback,  with  head  erect,  looking  him 
in  the  face.— Bartram. 

COCHIN-CHINA,  a  kingdom  of  Asia,  bordering  on 
the  Eastern  Ocean.  In  Cochin-China,  sugar  common- 
ly sells  for  three  piasters  the  quintal,  about  thirteen 
shillings  and  six  pence,  as  we  are  told  by  Mr.  Powre,  a 
very  careful  observer  of  the  agriculture  of  that  country. 
What  is  there  called  a  quintal  weighs  from  a  hundred 
and  fifty  to  two  hundred  pounds,  which  reduces  the 
price  of  the  hundred  weight  English  to  about  eight 
shillings  sterling  ;  not  a  fourth  part  of  what  is  common- 
ly paid  for  the  brown  or  muscovado  sugars,  imported 
from  the  West-Indies,  and  not  a  sixth  part  of  what  is 
paid  for  the  finest  white  sugar. — Mam  Smith. 

COCHINEAL,  a  rich  crimson  dye,  found  in  great 
abundance  in  Spanish  America.  In  old  Mexico,  next 
to  gold  and  silver,  the  most  valuable  product  is  cochi- 
neal, which  is  a  substance  of  the  animal  kind)  and  of  the 
species  of  the  gall  insect.  It  adheres  to  the  plant  call- 
ed apuntia,  and  sucks  the  juice  of  the  fruit,  which  is  of 
a  crimson  colour.  It  is  from  this  juice  that  the  cochi- 
neal derives  its  value.  It  is  computed  that  the  Span- 
iards export  no  less  than  nine  hnndred  thousand  pounds 
weight  of  this  commodity  annually.— 'Public  Journal. 

COCOA  TREE,  a  tree  that  grows  in  the  most  sul- 
try climes  ;  bearing  a  watery  and  cooling  fruit,  inclosed 
in  shells,  and  appearing  upon  the  trees  at  all  seasons, 
and  in  every  degree  of  maturity.  In  tropical  countries, 
on  the  uninhabited  shores  of  the  islands,  the  cocoa  tree 
bears,  at  once,  twelve  or  fifteen  clusters  of  cocoa  nuts, 
some  of  which  are  still  in  the  bud  ;  others  are  in  flower  ; 
others  are  knit ;  others  are  already  full  of  milk  ;  and, 
finally,  some  are  in  a  state  of  perfect  maturity.  The 
cocoa  is  the  seaman's  tree :  when  cast  upon  the  shores 
of  tropical  islands,  whether  it  be  summer  or  winter,  he 
finds  sustenance  from  its  fruit.— St.  Pierre. 

CODFISH,  a  fish  well  known*  of  great  use,  and  is  a 
staple  commodity  of  the  state  of  Massachusetts.  This 


86  COFFEE—COFFEE  TREE. 

animal's  chief  resort  is  on  the  banks  of  Newfoundland, 
and  the  other  sand  banks  which  lie  off  Cape  Breton, 
That  extensive  flat  seems  to  be  no  other  than  the  broad 
top  of  a  sea  mountain,  extending  for  above  five  hundred 
miles  in  length  and  surrounded  with  a  deeper  sea. 
Hither  the  cod  annually  repair  in  numbers  beyond  the 
power  of  calculation,  to  feed  upon  the  quantity  of  worms 
that  are  to  be  found  there  in  the  sandy  bottom.  These 
may  be  called  fish  of  passage,  and  bear  a  strong  analo- 
gy to  birds  of  passage,  both  from  their  social  disposi- 
tions and  the  immensity  of  their  numbers.  They  (and 
also  the  haddock,  the  whiting,  the  mackerel,  the  her- 
ring, and  the  pilchard)  are  known  to  take  a  course  of 
three  or  four  thousand  miles  in  a  season  ;  serving  for 
prey  to  whales,  sharks,  and  the  numerous  flocks  of  wa- 
ter fowl,  which  regularly  wait  to  intercept  their  pro- 
gre  s  s . — Goldsmith . 

COFFEE,  a  native  fruit  of  Arabia,  supposed  to  have 
been  the  chief  ingredient  of  the  old  Lacedemonian 
broth.  The  use  of  this  berry  was  not  known  in  Eng- 
land till  the  year  1657;  at  which  time  Mr.  Daniel  Ed- 
wards, a  Turkey  merchant,  on  his  return  from  Smyrna 
to  London,  brought  with  him  one  Pasque  Rose,  a  Greek 
of  Ragusa,  who  was  used  to  prepare  this  liquor  for  his 
master  every  morning.  The  merchant,  in  order  to  get 
rid  of  a  crowd  of  visitants  that  this  pleasant  beverage 
brought  him,  ordered  his  Greek  to  open  a  coffee  house, 
which  he  did  in  St.  Michael's  alley  in  Cornhill,  which  was 
the  first  coffee  house  erected  in  London. -Public  Journal. 

COFFEE  TREE.  This  tree  is  a  native  of  Arabia ; 
and  though  it  thrives  surprisingly  in  the  Antilles,  at  Cay- 
enne, and  in  the  isle  of  Bourbon,  also  in  Jamaica,  it  has 
preserved  in  its  original  country  a  superiority  that  gives 
it  a  preference  in  all  the  markets  of  Europe.  The  fruit, 
when  stripped  of  its  skin,  is  commonly  small  and  round  ; 
it  is  of  a  green  colour,  and  has  a  strong  scent.  In  rich 
and  spongy  soils,  a  single  tree  has  been  known  to  yield 
from  six  to  eight  pounds  of  coffee  $  in  different  situa- 
tions, a  pound  and  a  quarter  from  each  tree  is  great 
yielding.  An  acre  of  ground  will  yield  from  three  to 
seven  hundred  pounds  of  coffee.  It  is  said  that  a  der- 


COLD  SPRING— COLOPAXI—COLOSSUS.  87 

vise  finding  this  plant  in  the  mountains  of  Yemen,  (in 
Arabia)  was  the  first  that  made  a  decoction  of  its  fruit  ? 
and  that  coffee  was  introduced  into  Europe  by  means  of 
the  crusades. — Grandpre,  Edwards.,  Jl.  Smith. 

COLD  SPRING,  a  celebrated  villa,  so  called,  in  tha 
island  of  Jamaica.  It  is  four  thousand  and  two  hundred 
feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea ;  and  the  climate  is  the 
most  delightful  that  can  be  imagined,  but  is  too  cold  for 
the  growth  of  tropical  fruits.  The  orange  tree  will  not 
bear  within  a  considerable  height  of  this  garden  5  but 
many  of  the  English  fruits,  as  the  apple,  the  peach,  and 
the  strawberry,  flourish  there  in  great  perfection,  as  al- 
so the  tea  tree,  and  other  oriental  productions.  A  per- 
son from  the  lower  regions  of  the  island,  visiting  Cold 
Spring  for  the  .first  time,  almost  conceives  himself  trans- 
ported to  a  distant  part  of  the  world  $  the  air  and  fac« 
of  the  country  so  widely  differing  from  that  of  the  re- 
gions he  had  left.  Even  the  birds  are  all  strangers  to 
him. — Bryan  Edivards. 

COLOPAXI,  a  tremendous  volcanic  mountain,  in 
Quito,  a  province  of  Peru,  in  South  America.  The 
mountain  of  Colopaxi,  (being  a  part  of  the  Andes)  as 
described  by  Ulloa,  is  more  than  three  miles  perpendi- 
cular from  the  surface  of  the  sea ;  and  it  became  a  vol- 
cano at  the  time  of  the  Spaniards'  first  arrival  in  that 
country.  A  new  eruption  of  it  happened  in  the  year 
1743,  having  been  for  some  days  perceived  by  a  contin- 
ual roaring  in  its  bowels.  Its  sound  is  heard  an  hun- 
dred and  fifty  miles  distance ;  and  its  burning  lava  has 
sometimes  overflowed  the  vallies  below  to  a  vast  ex- 
tent.— Goldsmith. 

COLOSSUS,  an  enormous  statue  of  brass,  dedicated 
to  Apollo,  or  the  Sun  ;  it  stood  at  Rhodes,  a  capital  city 
of  an  island  of  the  same  name,  in  the  Mediterranean  Sea, 
The  Colossus  was  made  by  Chares,  and  was  of  such 
vast  magnitude  that  a  ship  could  pass  with  full  sails  be- 
tween its  legs.  Its  height  was  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
six  feet.  It  was  overthrown  by  an  earthquake  (235 
years  before  the  nativity  of  our  Saviour)  after  standing 
thirteen  hundred  and  sixty  years.  When  the  Saracens 


88  COLOURS— COLUMBIA  RIVER. 

had  become  masters  of  Rhodes,  finding  this  statue  pros- 
trate on  the  ground,  they  sold  it  to  a  Jew,  who  loaded 
nine  hundred  camels  with  the  brass  of  it.  It  is  said  to 
have  weighed  seven  hundred  and  thirteen  thousand 
pounds. 

COLOURS,  the  different  hues  in  which  bodies  ap- 
pear to  the  eye.  The  colours  which  are  most  grateful 
and  refreshing  to  the  sight,  are  blue  and  green  :  and 
hence  our  all-bountiful  Creator  has  clothed  the  heavens 
and  the  earth,  those  expansive  and  general  objects  of 
•vision,  with  these  colours.  The  Turks  prefer  green  to 
every  other  colour;  because,  according  to  the  tradition 
pf  their  theologians,  this  was  the  favorite  colour  of  Ma- 
homet 5  and  his  descendants  alone,  of  all  the  Turks,  have 
the  privilege  of  wearing  the  green  turban.  Yellow  is 
in  China  the  imperial  colour,  as  green  is  in  Turkey.— 
The  most  beautiful  of  all  colours  in  the  judgment  of 
most  nations,  is  red.  The  Russians,  when  they  would 
describe  a  beautiful  girl,  say  she  is  red  :  red  and  beau- 
tiful, being  with  them  synonomous  terms.  In  Mexico 
and  Peru,  red  was  held  in  very  high  estimation.  The 
most  magnificent  present  which  the  emperor  Montezu- 
ma  could  devise  for  Cortex,  was  a  necklace  of  lobsters, 
which  naturally  have  that  rich  colour.  The  only  de- 
mand made  upon  the  Spaniards  by  the  king  of  Sumatra, 
on  their  first  landing  in  his  country,  and  presenting 
him  with  many  samples  of  the  commerce  and  industry 
of  Europe,  was  some  corals  and  scarlet  coloured  stuffs  5 
and  he  promised  to  give  them,  in  return,  all  the  spice- 
rics  arid  merchandize  of  India,  for  which  they  might 
have  occasion.  There  is  no  such  thing  as  carrying  on 
trade  to  any  advantage  with  the  Negroes,  the  Tartars, 
the  American  natives,  and  the  East-Indians,  but  through 
the  medium  of  red  cloths.  It  is  with  red  that  nature 
heightens  the  most  brilliant  parts  of  the  most  beautiful 
flowers  i  and  she  invests  most  of  the  feathered  race  in 
India,  with  a  plumage  of  this  colour  :  some  have  their 
heads  covered  with  it  5  others  have  a  breast  plate  of  it, 
a  necklace,  a1  capuchin,  a  shoulder-knot. — St.  Pierre. 

COLUMBIA  RIVER,  a  large  river  in  Louisiana, 
tanning  westward  and  falling  into  the  Pacific 


COMETS— COMPLEXION.  S3 

Captain  Lewis,  who  was  sent  thither  by  the  President  o 
the  United  States,  with  an  exploring  party,  makes  it  four 
hundred  and  thirty  miles  from  the  head  of  the  main  riv- 
er of  Columbia,  to  its  mouth  at  the  Pacific  5  and  three 
thousand  five  hundred  and  fifty-five  miles  from  the 
mouth  of  the  Missouri,  at  the  Mississippi,  to  the  mouth 
of  the  Columbia,  at  the  Pacific  Ocean.  According  to 
captain  Lewis,  the  tide  flows  in  the  river  Columbia  one 
hundred  and  eighty -three  miles,  to  within  seven  miles 
of  its  great  rapids,  and  so  far  would  admit  large  ships. 
This  whole  line,  as  he  tells  us,  furnishes  the  most  val- 
uable furs  in  the  world,  and  a  short  and  easy  course 
for  them  to  the  eastern  parts  of  China  5  but  that  the 
greater  part  of  these  would  be  from  the  head  of  the 
Missouri. 

COMETS,  large  and  solid  bodies,  like  other  planets 
moving  about  the  sun  in  very  eccentric  orbits,  but  reg- 
ulated by  the  same  laws  of  gravity  with  the  rest  of  the 
planetary  system.  Mr.  Bode  has  given  a  table  of  sev- 
enty-two comets,  whose  orbits  are  already  calculated  : 
of  these,  sixty  pass  within  the  earths'  orbit,  and  only 
twelve  without  it  5  and  most  of  them  appear  between 
the  orbits  of  Venus  and  Mercury,  or  nearly  mid  way 
between  the  sun  and  earth.  Three  comets  have  been 
found  with  certainty  to  return  at  intervals  of  seventy- 
five,  one  hundred  and  twenty-nine,  and  five  hundred  and 
seventy-five  years  ;  and  of  these,  that  which  appeared 
in  1680,  is  the  most  remarkable.  This  comet  at  its 
greatest  distance,  is  about  eleven  thousand  and  two  hun- 
dred million  miles  from  the  sun,  while  its  least  distance 
from  the  centre  of  the  sun  is  but  about  five  hundred  and 
sixty -four  thousand  miles,  or  within  less  than  one  third 
part  of  the  distance  of  the  sun's  diameter  from  his  sur- 
face. In  that  part  of  the  orbit  which  is  nearest  to  the 
sun,  it  flies  with  the  amazing  velocity  of  eight  hundred 
and  eighty  thousand  miles  in  an  hour,  or,  above  two 
hundred  and  forty-four  miles  in  a  second  ! — Morse, 
Darwin. 

COMPLEXION,  the  colour  of  the  skin,  varying  ac- 
cording to  climate.     The  Europeans,  when  they  settle 
in  New  Spain  or  the  West  India  islands,  soon  kse  their 
I  2 


$0  CONGO— CONNECTICUT. 

whiteness,  and  become  of  a  brownish  yellow.  The  Eu- 
ropeans who  reside  long  in  the  East  Indies,  beeome  of 
the  same  cream  coloured  complexion.  The  Spaniard s* 
who  have  inhabited  America  under  the  torrid  zone  for 
any  considerable  time,  have  become  as  dark  coloured  as 
the  native  Indians  of  Virginia.  The  descendants  of  the 
Portuguese,  who  settled  at  Senegal  in  Africa,  m  the 
year  1400,  and  of  those  who  settled  at  Mi  tambo,  and  on 
the  coasts  of  Congo,  have  the  African  colour  and  woolly 
heads.  The  Jews  who  descended  from  one  stock,  and 
whose  religion  has  prevented  their  marrying  with  other 

feople,  have  varied  in  complexion  according  to  climate, 
a  Britain  and  Germany,  they  are  white  ;  in  France  and 
Turkey  they  are  brown  ;  in  Spain  and  Portugal,  theiy 
colour  is  swarthy ;  in  Syria  and  Chaldea,  the  olive 
colour  prevails  ;  in  Arabia  and  Egypt,  they  are  of  a 
lawny  or  copper  colour :  and  Tudeta,  a  Jew,  relates 
*hat  his  countrymen  in  Abyssinia  had  acquired  the  dark 
complexion  of  the  original  natives. — Mitchell,  Williams. 

CONGO,  Loiver  Guinea,  a  country  of  Africa;  sit- 
uated on  the  coast  of  the  Atlantic  or  Ethiopic  Ocean, 
between  the  equator  and  the  eighteenth  degree  of  south 
latitude.  The  desert  parts  of  this  country  abound  with 
elephants,  tigers,  leopards,  monkeys,  and  monstrous 
serpents  ;  near  the  coasts  the  soil  is  extremely  fertile. 
The  natives  are  gross  idolaters ;  but  the  Portuguese, 
who  have  multiplied  their  settlements  on  the  coasts, 
have  made  many  converts  to  Christianity.  From  this 
ill  fated  country  are  brought  multitudes  of  slaves  ;  car- 
goes of  Congo  Negroes  have  been  advertised  weekly, 
in  the  southern  papers  of  the  United  States. 

CONNECTICUT,  one  of  the  United  States  of  Amer- 
ica; situated  between  41°  and  42°  2'  north  latitude: 
bounded  north  by  Massachusetts:  east  by  Rhode -Isl- 
and ;  south  by  the  sound  which  divides  it  from  Long- 
Island  ;  and  west  by  the  state  of  New-York.  Its  length 
ie  one  hundred  miles,  and  its  greatest  breadth  seventv- 
ivvo  miles.  This  is  the  most  populous  and  best  culti- 
vated state  in  the  union  :  its  commercial  towns  are  Hart- 
ford, New-Haven,  New-London,  Middletown,  and  Nor- 
wich. Hartford,  a  very  pleasant  town;  surrounded  with 


CONNECTICUT  RIVER— CONSTANCE.     9! 

a  fine  country,  is  situated  at  the  head  of  navigation  on 
the  west  side  of  Connecticut  river,  about  fifty  miles  from 
its  entrance  into  the  Sound.  The  settlement  of  Hart- 
ford was  begun  by  the  English  (the  Dutch  having  pre- 
viouslv  erected  a  fort  and  a  trading  house  there)  about 
the  year  1636.  New-Haven  lies  round  the  head  01  a  bay, 
which  makes  up  about  four  miles  north  of  the  sound  :  in 
pleasantness  of  situation,  it  is  rarely  exceeded  ;  its  set- 
tlement begun  in  the  year  1638.  New-London  stands 
on  the  west  side  of  the  river  Thames,  about  three  miles 
from  its  entrance  into  the  sound  ;  its  harbor  is  the  best 
in  Connecticut.  Middletown  is  pleasantly  situated  on 
the  western  bank  of  Connecticut  river,  fifteen  miles 
south  of  Hartford  ;  Norwich  stands  on  the  head  of 
Thames  river,  fourteen  miles  north  from  New-London. 
About  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century,  Connecti- 
cut contained  one  hundred  and  thirty-three  thousand 
inhabitants,  and  had  a  militia  of  twenty-seven  thousand 
men  ;  at  the  same  time  the  whole  number  of  souls  in 
the  province  of  New -York,  was  computed  at  one  hun- 
hred  thousand,  and  its  militia  did  not  exceed  eighteen 
thousand.  Since  the  termination  of  the  revolutionary 
war,  there  has  been  a  constant  stream  of  emigration 
from  Connecticut  to  the  western  parts  of  New-York. — 
Morse,  Winterbotham,  Smith. 

CONNECTICUT  RIVER,  has  its  source  in  a  ridge 
of  mountains,  which  extend  north-easterly  to  the  Gulf 
of  St.  Lawrence.  Its  course  between  Vermont  and 
New -Hampshire,  a  distance  of  two  hundred  miles,  is 
south-westerly  ;  thence  to  its  mouth  its  course  is  more 
southerly.  After  running  about  four  hundred  miles 
through  the  country,  and  receiving  a  great  number  of 
other  streams  and  rivers,  it  discharges  itself  into  the 
ocean  at  Saybrook.  In  the  months  of  April  and  May, 
the  river  overflows  its  banks  :  and  for  the  length  of 
three  hundred  miles,  forms  and  fertilizes  a  large  tract 
of  rich  meadow. — •Williams. 

CONSTANCE,  a  city  of  Germany,  on  the  Rhine  5 
once  flourishing  in  commerce,  but  now  fallen  into  such 
decay,  that  grass  grows  in  the  principal  streets.  Here 
a  number  of  cardinals  and  bishops  of  tne  Romish  church, 


93  CONSTANTINOPLE. 

in  the  year  1444,  held  a  council,  called  the  council  of 
Constance  5  and  summoned  before  them  John  Huss,  one 
of  the  first  reformers.  Huss  attending,  and  boldly  and 
ably  defending  the  doctrines  of  the  reformation,  he  was 
stripped  of  his  sacerdotal  habit,  and  clothed  in  a  lay 
ilress  5  his  hair  was  cut  in  the  form  of  a  cross  ;  upon 
his  head  was  put  a  paper  mitre,  painted  with  the  repre- 
sentation of  three  devils  ;  and  he  was  committed  to  the 
flames,  as  was,  soon  afterwards,  Jerome  of  Prague,  for 
the  same  offence. — Russell. 

CONSTANTINOPLE,  the  capital  of  the  /Turkish 
empire.  This  city  (occupying  the  site  of  the  ancient 
Byzantium)  is  pleasantly  situated  on  the  European  side 
of  the  strait  anciently  called  the  Eosphorus,  which  se- 
parates Europe  from  Asia.  This  strait  is  twenty  miles 
long,  and  a  mile  and  a  quarter  broad.  Constantinople 
was  rebuilt  by  Constantine  the  Great,  and  from  him  de- 
rived its  name.  It  was  taken  from  the  Christians,  in 
1453,  by  the  Turks,  who  are  reported  to  have  massacred 
forty  thousand  of  the  inhabitants.  At  the  time  of  its 
capture,  Irene,  a  beautiful  young  Greek  of  an  illustrious 
family,  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  sultan,  whose  savage 
heart  was  smitten  by  her  charms.  He  neglected  the 
army  and  the  affairs  of  the  state  for  the  sake  of  her 
company ;  till  perceiving  a  general  murmur  arising  a- 
gainst  him  on  that  account,  the  royal  brute  led  her 
forth  in  the  midst  of  the  army,  and  pulling  off  her  veil, 
demanded  of  the  bashaws  with  a* fierce  look,  whether 
they  had  ever  beheld  such  a  beauty  ?  After  an  awful 
pause,  he  with  one  hand  laying  hold  of  the  young  lady 
by  her  beautiful  locks,  and  with  the  other  drawing  his 
scymetar,  severed  the  head  from  the  body  at  one  stroke. 
Then  turning  to  his  grandees,  with  eyes  wild  and  furi- 
ous, "  This  sword  (says  he)  when  it  is  my  will,  knows 
to  cut  the  bands  of  love  !"  The  following  description  of 
a  view  of  the  city  and  country  from  the  water,  is  given 
by  lady  M.  Wortley  Montague.  "  The  pleasantness  of 
goino;  in  a  barge  to  Chelsea,  (says  that  lady)  is  not  com- 
parable to  that  of  rowing  upon  the  canal  of  Constanti- 
nople, where  for  twenty  miles  together  down  the  Bos- 
phorus,  the  most  beautiful  variety  of  prospects  present 
themselves.  The  Asiatic  side  is  covered  with  fruit;- 


CONTOUR— COPPER— .COPPERHEAD.       93 

trees,  villages,  and  the  most  delightful  landscapes  in 
nature  5  on  the  European  side  stands  Constantinople, 
situated  on  seven  hills.  The  unequal  heights  make  it 
seem  as  large  again  as  it  is,  (though  one  of  the  largest 
cities  in  the  world)  showing  an  agreeable  mixture  of 
gardens,  pine  and  cypress  trees,  palaces,  mosques,  (of 
which  last  there  are  no  less  than  six  thousand)  and 
public  buildings  raised  one  above  another  with  a  most 
beautiful  appearance  of  symmetry." 

CONTOUR,  or  Condour,  the  largest  winged  animal 
in  the  known  world,  it  is  a  native  of  South  America; 
and  it  is  remarkable  that  the  American  continent  has 
preduced  not  only  the  largest,  but  also  the  smallest  of 
the  feathered  race,  namely,  the  humming  bird.  Sever- 
al of  these  fowls  (the  contours)  which  have  been  killed 
by  the  Spaniards,  measured,  from  end  to  end  of  their 
extended  wings,  fifteen  or  sixteen  feet.  Nature,  to 
temper  and  allay  their  fierceness,  hath  denied  them  the 
talons  which  are  given  to  the  eagle,  their  feet  being 
tipped  with  claws,  like  those  of  a  dunghill  fowl  :  their 
beak  however  is  strong  enough  to  tear  off  the  hide,  and 
rip  up  the  bowels  of  an  ox.  Two  of  them  will  attack 
a  cow  or  a  bull,  and  devour  the  animal  quickly ;  and  it 
hath  often  happened  that  a  contour  hath  assaulted  and 
devoured  boys  often  or  twelve  years  of  age. — Garcilass- 
co  de  la  Vega. 

COPPER,  a  hard  heavy  metal  of  a  reddish  colour., 
heavier  than  iron  or  tin,  but  lighter  than  silver,  lead,  or 
gold.  Its  ductility  is  very  great,  and  its  divisibility  pro- 
digious ;  for,  as  Mr.  Boyle  observes,  a  single  grain  of 
it  dissolved  in  an  alkali,  will  give  a  sensible  colour  to 
more  than  five  hundred  thousand  times  its  weight  of 
water.  The  Romans  are  said  to  have  had  nothing  but 
copper  money  till  within  five  years  of  the  first  Punic 
war,  (about  two  hundred  and  sixty  years  before  our 
Saviour's  nativity)  when  they  first  began  to  coin  silver. 
Accordingly,  at  Rome,  one  who  owed  a  great  deal  of 
money,  was  said  to  have  a  great  deal  of  other  people's 
copper. — Penning,  Jl.  Smith. 

COPPERHEAD,  a  snake  of  the  most  poisonous  kind) 


94  COPTS— -CORLEAU. 

seldom  found  in  any  parts  of  the  United  States,  except 
at  the  southward.  It  is  sometimes  called  the  pilot,  be- 
cause it  always  precedes  the  rattlesnake  $  that  is,  quits 
its  state  of  torpidity  in  the  spring  a  week  hefore  the 
other.  It  bears  the  name  of  copperhead,  on  account  of 
its  head  being  marked  with  many  copper-coloured  spots. 
It  lurks  in  rocks  near  the  water,  and  is  extremely  active 
and  dangerous  ;  lor  the  poison  of  which  no  remedy  has 
yet  been  discovered.  Some  years  ago,  a  man,  in  Penn- 
sylvania, was  stung  by  a  copperhead.  He  instantly 
swelled  in  a  most  dreadful  manner  5  a  multitude  of 
spots,  of  different  hues,  alternately  appeared  and  van- 
ished, on  different  parts  of  his  body  5  his  eyes  were  filled 
with  rage  ;  he  cast  them  on  all  present  with  the  most 
vindictive  looks  ;  he  thrust  out  his  tongue  as  the  snakes 
do  ;  he  hissed  through  his  teeth  with  inconceivably 
strength,  and  became  an  object  of  terror  to  all  by-stand- 
ers.  Death  relieved  him  of  his  struggles  in  about  two 
hours. — St.  John. 

COPTS,  a  distinct  people  of  Egypt,  descended  from 
that  mixture  of  native  Egyptians,  Persians,  and  Greeks, 
who  under  the  Ptolemies  and  Constantines,  were  so  long 
in  possession  of  that  country.  Thejr  are  characterised 
by  a  sort  of  yellowish  dusky  complexion  ;  they  have  all 
a  puffed  visage,  swoln  eyes,  flat  noses,  and  thick  lips,  in 
short,  the  exact  countenance  of  a  mulatto.  The  Copts, 
although  at  present  in  a  state  of  barbarism  and  igno- 
rance, and  held  in  contempt,  descended  from  a  people 
whence  we  derived  our  arts  and  sciences  5  from  the 
profound  genius  of  the  ancient  Egyptians,  and  the  bril- 
liant imagination  of  the  Greeks.  The  Coptic  language 
fell  into  disuse  more  than  three  centuries  ago. —  Volmy. 

'  CORLEAR,  the  name  which  the  Canada  Indians  for- 
merly gave  to  the  governor  of  New-York.  The  occa- 
sion, as  given  in  Smith's  History,  was  this.  In  the  year 
1665,  the  French  Governor  Corcelles  sent  out  a  party 
of  his  Indians  against  the  Mohawks.  It  was  in  the  dead 
of  winter,  and  they  must  have  perished  with  cold  and 
hunger,  but  for  their  arrival  at  Schenectady.  There 
too  the  Mohawk  Indians  would  have  -sacrificed  them  to 
their  fury  ;  but  Mr.  Corlear,  a  Dutchman,  interposed 


CORMORANT—COTTON  SHRUB.          95 

to  protect  them.  Their  gratitude  towards  this  man  was 
such,  that  thereafter,  in  all  their  treaties,  they  addressed 
the  governor  of  New-York  by  the  name  of  Corlear.—* 
Other  instances  are  not  wanting  to  show,  that  the  na- 
tives of  this  country  were  as  remarkable  for  their  grat- 
itude towards  their  benefactors  as  they  were  for  a  thirst 
for  vengeance  against  their  enemies.  Doctor  Trum- 
bull,  in  his  history  of  Connecticut,  relates,  that,  in  the 
year  1659,  the  Naraganset  Indians  besieged  the  fort  of 
(Jncas,  sachem  of  the  Pequots,  near  the  banks  of  the 
Thames  5  that  while  Uncas  and  his  men  were  ready  to 
perish  with  hunger,  Thomas  Leffingwell,  an  ensign  at 
Saybrook,  loaded  a  canoe  with  beef,  corn,  and  pease, 
and,  with  difficulty  and  hazard,  conveyed  this  provision 
to  the  relief  of  Uncas  ;  and  that,  for  this  service,  the 
grateful  sachem  gave  Leffingwell  a  deed  of  a  great  part 
of  the  town  of  Norwich.  It  is  also  related,  in  substance, 
in  Trumbull's  History,  that  the  Connecticut  Milford- 
Indians,  happening  to  find  a  Mohawk,  stripped  him 
naked,  and  tied  him  up  in  the  salt  meadows  for  the 
musquetoes  to  devour ;  mat  one  Hine,  a  white  man,  set 
the  Indian  free ;  and  that  the  Mohawks,  for  a  long 
time  after,  manifested  a  peculiar  affection  not  only  for 
Mine  himself,  but  for  his  name,  family,  and  descend- 
ants. 

CORMORANT,  a  sea  fowl,  about  the  size  of  a  large 
Muscovy  duck.  The  head  and  neck  of  this  bird  are  of 
a  sooty  blackness  ;  and  the  body  thick  and  heavy,  more 
inclined  in  fignre  to  that  of  a  goose  than  the  gull.  The 
bill  is  straight  till  near  the  end,  where  the  upper  chap 
bends  into  a  hook.  The  cormorant  is  most  voracious 
in  its  appetite  ;  its  smell  is  fcetid,  like  that  of  carrion  $ 
its  voice,  is  hoarse  and  croaking  ;  and  all  its  qualities 
disgusting.  No  wonder  then  that  Milton  should  make 
Satan  personate  this  bird,  when  he  sent  him  upon  the 
basest  purpose,  to  survey  with  pain  the  beauties  of  Para- 
dise, and  to  sit  devising  death  on  the  tree  of  life. — • 
Some  of  the  old  English  tamed  this  ugly  bird,  and  em- 
ployed it  to  catch  fish  for  their  tables. — Goldsmith,  Pen- 
nant. 

•    COTTON  SHRUB,  a  plant  that  rises  to  the  height 


%  COUPEE— COUQUAR. 

of  about  two  feet.  That  beautiful  vegetable  wool,  called 
cotton,  is  the  spontaneous  production  of  three  parts  of 
the  earth.  It  is  found  growing  naturally  in  all  the  trop- 
ical regions  of  Asia,  Africa,  and  America.  The  plant., 
or  shrub,  is  raised  from  the  seed  5  at  the  end  of  live 
months,  it  begins  to  blossom,  and  put  forth  its  beautiful 
yellow  flowers ;  and  in  two  months  more,  the  pod  is 
formed.  The  pod  opens,  when  ripe,  into  three  or  four 
partitions,  discovering  the  cotton  in  as  many  white  locks, 
as  there  are  partitions  in  the  pod.  In  these  pods  are 
interspersed  the  seeds,  which  are  commonly  small  and 
black.  As  soon  as  the  people  in  the  southern  provin- 
ces of  China,  have  reaped  their  grain,  they  sow  their 
cotton  in  the  same  field,  after  having  turned  up  the 
earth  slightly  with  a  rake.— Bryan  Edwards,  Winter- 
hotham. 

COUPEE,a  short  turn  in  the  river  Mississippi,  about 
two  hundred  and  fifty-nine  miles  from  its  mouth.  At 
Point  Coupee,  where  the  Mississippi  made  a  great  bend, 
some  Frenchmen,  in  the  year  1722,  by  deepening  the 
channel  of  a  small  brook,  turned  the  water  of  the  river 
into  it.  The  impetuosity  of  the  stream  was  so  violent, 
and  the  soil  of  so  rich  and  loose  a  quality,  that  in  a  short 
time  the  point  was  entirely  cut  through  ;  and  travellers 
were  saved  fourteen  leagues  of  their  voyage.  The  old 
bed  is  left  dry  ;  and  the  new  channel  cannot  be  sound- 
ed with  a  line  of  thirty  fathom. — Charlevoix. 

COUQUAR,  a  ferocious  animal  of  America.  It  is 
called  by  some  the  American  lion  ;  but  differs  greatly 
from  that  noble  animal.  Its  head  is  small,  it  has  no 
mane,  its  length,  from  nose  to  tail,  is  about  five  feet,  the 
tail  two  feet.  The  predominant  colour  is  a  lively  red, 
mixed  with  black,  especially  on  the  back,  where  it  is 
darkest  :  its  chin,  its  throat,  and  all  the  lower  parts  of 
the  body  are  whitish  ;  its  legs  are  long,  ana  claws 
white.  It  is  found  in  many  parts  of  North  America, 
from  Canada  to  Florida  :  it  is  also  common  in  Guiana, 
Brazil,  and'  Mexico.  In  the  southern  climes  of  the 
American  continent,  it  is  fierce  and  ravenous  in  the  ex- 
treme, and  will  swim  rivers  to  attack  cattle,  even  in 
their  indosures.  Sometimes  it  lies  lurking  upon  the 


CREEKS—CREOLES.  9r 

branch  of  a  tree  till  a  moose  or  deer  pass  underneath, 
\vhen  it  drops  down  upon  it,  and  never  quits  its  hold  till 
it  has  drank  its  blood. — Winter  botham. 

CREEKS,  or  Muskogees,  a  powerful  nation  of  Indians 
inhabiting  the  middle  parts  of  Georgia,  along  the  river 
Mobile.  They  are  called  Creek  Indians,  by  reason  of 
the  creeks  and  rivulets,  which  abound  in  their  country. 
Their  soil  is  extremely  fruitful,  and  the  climate  deli- 
cious ;  they  are  cultivators  of  the  ground,  they  permit 
no  kind  of  spirituous  liquors  to  be  used  o«  brought  into 
their  towns.  They  are  faithful  friends,  but  inveterate 
enemies  ;  hospitable  to  strangers,  and  honest  and  fair 
in  their  dealings.  Their  women  are  very  small,  their 
hands  and  feet  being  no  larger  than  those  of  Europeans 
of  nine  or  ten  years  of  age.  They  are  well  formed  ; 
their  visage  round,  features  regular  and  beautiful  $  the 
eye  large,  black,  and  languishing.  The  men  are  a  full 
size  larger  than  Europeans.  Their  mode  of  marrying 
is  this :  the  bridegroom  takes  a  cane  or  reed,  and  fixes 
it  upright  in  the  ground,  then  the  bride  sticks  down 
another  reed  by  the  side  of  his,  which  finishes  the  mar- 
riage ceremony.  This,  however,  must  be  done  in  the 
presence  of  company.  The  couple  then  exchange 
reeds,  which  are  laid' by  as  evidences  or  certificates  of 
their  marriage.  They  allow  of  polygamy,  but  always 
punish  adultery  with  cropping  or  cutting  oft*  the  ears. 
Even  a  white  man  who  should  debauch  one  of  their  mar- 
ried women,  could  not  escape  the  punishment  of  crop- 
ping, if  he  were  detected  and  caught. — JSartram. 

CREOLES,  whites  and  blacks,  born  in  the  West-In- 
dies. The  white  Creoles  are  taller  than  the  Europeans, 
but  not  so  robust.  Distinguished  for  the  suppleness  of 
their  joints,  they  move  with  great  ease,  agility  and  grace- 
fulness 5  and  excel  in  penmanship.  With  them  the 
socket  of  the  eye  is  deeper  than  among  the  natives  of 
Europe,  and  their  skin  feels  considerably  cooler  than 
that  of  an  European.  Though  arrogant,  they  are  never 
mean;  though  passionate  and  resentful,  they  are  hu- 
mane and  hospitable.  No  people  surpass  them  in  frank- 
ness of  disposition ;  their  confidence  is  unlimited  and 
entire  $  superior  to  falsehood  themselves,  they  suspect 
K, 


$8        CROCODILE— CROSSWISE-MARK. 

it  not  in  others.  Their  quick  perception,  and  rapid  ad- 
vances in  knowledge  at  early  childhood,  are  perfectly 
astonishing ;  but  habitual  licentiousness  prevents  sub- 
sequent improvements :  The  Creole  ladies  are  domes- 
tic, temperate,  and  even  abstemious.  Simple  water, 
or  lemonade,  is  the  strongest  beverage  in  which  they 
indulge,  and  a  vegetable  mess  at  noon,  seasoned  with 
Cayenne  pepper,  constitutes  their  principal  repast. — 
Their  persons  are  fine,  but  their  faces  are  pallid,  and 
apparently  of  a  sickly  hue.  Their  teeth  are  beautifully 
white  ;  their.eyes  are  large  and  expressive  5  sometimes 
beaming  with  animation,  and  sometimes  melting  with 
tenderness.  No  women  on  earth  make  better  wives,  or 
better  mothers. — Bryan  Edwards. 

CROCODILE,  an  enormous  river  serpent,  that  is 
found  in  abundance  in  the  Nile  and  the  Niger  of  Afri- 
ca. It  is  sometimes  found  thirty  feet  long  5  its  strength 
is  prodigious  ;  it  seizes  even  the  tiger,  and  draws  him 
into  the  water.  She  lays  her  eggs  in  vast  numbers,  in 
the  sand,  and  leaves  them  to  be  hatched  there  in  the 
sun.  Providence,  however,  has  provided  means  to 
check  the  increase  of  this  detested  race.  The  croco- 
dile's eggs  are  greedily  destroyed,  not  only  by  the  ich- 
neumon, but  also  by  the  vulture.  Flocks  of  vultures 
hide  themselves  within  the  thick  brandies  of  the  trees 
that  shade  the  banks  of  the  rivqr,  watching  the  croco- 
dile in  silence  while  she  is  laying  her  eggs  ;  and  when 
she  has  retired,  they  rush  on  with  loud  cries,  and  tear 
up  the  eggs  out  of  the  sand,  and  devour  them.  The 
monster  is  tameable  :  the  Siamese  take  the  crocodile's 
young,  breed  it  up  in  subjection,  put  a  curb  in  its  mouth 
and  manage  it  like  a  horse,  the  rider  directing  it  as  he 
thinks  proper. — Goldsmith. 

CROSSWISE-MARK.  In  a  former  age  of  popish 
ignorance,  when  very  few,  compaVatively,  of  the  people 
of  Europe  could  write  their  names,  it  was  ordained  that 
the  illiterate,  when  required  to  sign  or  witness  any  writ- 
ten instrument,  should  make  the  figure  of  a  cross  upon 
the  paper  or  parchment,  as  an  avowal  of  their  being 
Christians.  Hence,  to  the  present  day,  those  who  make 
their  mark  instead  of  writing  their  name,  usually  draw 


CRUSADES.  99 

two  lines  crosswise,  after  that  old  popish  custom.  Not 
so  harmless  was  the  superstition  of  deciding  causes  by 
a  mode  of  trial,  called  the  Judgment  of  the  Cross,  which 
prevailed  in  Europe,  several  centuries  ago.  In  that 
kind  of  trial,  as  Du  Cange  tells  us,  the  person  accused 
of  a  crime  was  to  remain  with  his  arms  extended  before 
a  cross  for  five  or  six  hours,  without  motion.  If  he  fail- 
ed in  sustaining  this  trial  he  lost  his  cause,  and  was 
judged  guilty. 

CRUSADES,  expeditions  against  infidels,  and  for 
the  recovery  of  the  Holy  Land.  There  were  eight  dif- 
ferent crusades ;  the  rage  for  conquering  the  Holy 
Land  continuing  for  nearly  two  centuries.  The  first 
crusade  was  undertaken  in  the  year  1096.  Before  this 
period,  pilgrimages  to  the  holy  sepulchre  at  Jerusalem 
had  been  common  5  and  the  pilgrims,  on  their  return, 
had  filled  Europe  with  indignation,  by  recounting  the 
outrages  of  the  infidels,  who  were  masters  of  Jerusa- 
lem and  the  Holy  Land.  While  the  minds  of  men  were 
thus  roused  and  inflamed,  a  monk,  called  Peter  the  Her- 
mit, ran  from  province  to  province  with  a  crucifix  in 
his  hand,  exciting  princes  and  people  to  wage  a  holy 
war  with  the  infidels.  Persons  of  all  ranks  flew  to  arms 
with  the  greatest  ardor,  each  warrior  fixing  a  cross  to 
his  right  shoulder ;  whence  the  expedition  got  the  name 
of  Crusade  or  Cruisado.  Europe  seemed,  in  one  uni- 
ted body,  to  precipitate  itself  upon  Asia.  Peter  the 
Hermit,  and  Walter,  called  the  Moneyless,  led  forth  an 
undisciplined  multitude,  computed  at  three  hundred 
thousand  men ;  general  Peter  walking  before  them 
with  a  rope  round  his  waist.  Only  twenty  thousand  of 
this  immense  rabble  arrived  at  the  borders  of  Asia ;  the 
rest  having  supported  themselves  awhile  with  plunder 
and  robberies,  perished  by  the  sword  and  famine.  The 
more  disciplined  armies,  led  on  by  princes,  noblemen, 
and  the  ablest  generals  in  Europe,  arrived  in  Asia  5  and 
when  mustered,  they  amounted  to  the  prodigious  num- 
ber of  one  hundred  thousand  horsemen,  and  six  hun- 
dred thousand  foot.  They  took  Jerusalem  by  assault, 
and  put  the  inhabitants  to  the  sword,  without  distinction 
of  age  or  sex.  These  frantic  crusaders,  having  spread 
desolation  far  and  wide,  found  most  of  their  graves  in 


100  CUBA— CUCK00. 

Asia ;  a  remnant  only  ever  returning.  They  brought 
back  with  them  the  pestilence,  the  leprosy,  and  the 
small  pox ;  they  also  brought  back  with  them  several 
useful  arts,  which  they  had  learned  in  those  more  pol- 
ished countries,  and  several  productions  of  the  earth, 
before  unknown. — Russell,  •#.  Smith. 

CUBA,  a  most  valuable  Spanish  island  in  the  West 
Indies  ;  situated  between  £0°  and  £3°  SO'  north  lati- 
tude ;  extending  nearly  seven  hundred  miles  in  length, 
and  generally  about  seventy  in  breadth.  It  is  the  key 
of -the  West  Indies,  and  the  rendezvous  of  all  the  Span- 
ish vessels  which  sail  to  or  from  the  Spanish  dominions 
on  the  American  continent.  The  soil  is  exceedingly 
fertile,  and  might  be  made  to  produce  all  kinds  of  trop- 
ical fruits  in  great  abundance  ;  but  the  lazy  Spaniards 
neglect  to  cultivate  it,  and  only  a  small  part  of  the  island 
is  even  cleared.  Havanna  is  the  capital.  Cuba  was 
discovered  by  Columbus,  1492;  and  by  the  year  1511, 
it  was  wholly  conquered  by  the  Spaniards,  who  had  de- 
stroyed in  that  time,  according  to  their  own  account, 
more  than  a  million  of  the  native  inhabitants.  Those 
who  remained  alive,  finding  their  oppressions  intolera- 
ble, had  resolved  to  put  an  end  to  their  own  lives  ;  when 
Vasco  Porcellos,  a  Spanish  officer,  deterred  them  from 
it,  by  threatening  that  he  would  hang  himself  with  them, 
for  the  sake  of  having  the  pleasure  of  tormenting  them 
in  the  next  world  worse  than  he  had  done  in  this. 

CUCKOO,  a- bird  of  a  greyish  colour,  and  less  than 
a  pigeon.  They  are  plenty  in  England,  and  some  other 
parts  of  Europe.  Before  winter  sets  in  this  bird  dis- 
appears; in  the  spring  its  voice  is  heard,  earlier  or  la- 
ter, as  the  spring  happens  to  be  more  or  less  forward. 
The  cheerful  voice  of  this  bird  teaches  the  farmer  with 
great  exactness,  the  proper  time  of  sowing.  All  other 
signs  may  fail,  but  the  voice  of  the  cuckoo  is  an  unerr- 
ing rule  ;  for  heaven  has  taught  it  to  point  out  the  sea- 
son. The  cuckoo  makes  herself  no  nest;  she  contrives 
to  deposit  an '  egg  with  the  eggs  of  the  hedge  sparrow, 
which  hatches  it,  together  with  her  own  ;  and  the  young 
cuckoo,  almost  as  soon  as  hatched,  tumbles  out  the  rest 
-of  the  brood,  and  remains  possessor  of  the  nest,  and  the- 


CUTTLE  FISH—  CYDNUS— CYPEESS.    10J 

sole  object  of  the  future  care  of  its  unconscious  step- 
mother, the  old  sparrow.— Goldsmith,  Jim.  Museum. 

CUTTLE  FISH,  an  animal  of  very  extraordinary 
qualities.  It  is  about  two  feet  long  covered  with  a 
very  thin  skin,  and  its  flesh  composed  of  a  jelly-like 
substance,  strengthened  within-side  by  a  strong  bone, 
of  which  great  use  is  made  by  goldsmiths.  The  cuttle- 
fish is  found  along  many  of  the  coasts  of  Europe  ;  but 
they  are  not  easily  caught,  from  a  contrivance  with 
which  they  are  furnished  by  nature  ;  this  is  a  black  sub- 
stance, of  the  colour  of  ink,  which  is  contained  in  a 
bladder,  and  is  emptied  at  pleasure.  Whenever  there- 
fore this  fish  is  pursued  and  finds  a  difficulty  of  escap- 
ing, it  shoots  forth  a  quantity  of  this  black  liquor,  by 
which  the  waters  are  totally  darkened,  and  then  it 
escapes  by  lying  close  at  the  bottom. — Goldsmith. 

C  YDNUS,  the  ancient  name  of  a  river  in  Asia.  Al- 
exander the  Great,  when  covered  with  sweat  and  dust, 
went  into  the  Cydnus  to  wash  himself  at  the  hottest 
time  of  the  day.  As  soon  as  he  entered  the  water,  his 
limbs  grew  stiff"  on  a  sudden,  he  turned  pale,  and  the 
vital  heat  forsook  almost  every  part  of  his  body.  His 
servants  received  him  like  a  dying  man,  and  carried  him 
scarce  sensible  to  his  tent.  So  suddenly  was  his 
strength  destroyed,  young  as  he  was,  and  hardened  by 
warlike  toils  ;  a  violent  disease  immediately  seized  him, 
who  was  perfectly  well  before,  from  which  he  very  dif- 
ficultly escaped,  by  the  skill  and  fidelity  of  Philip,  his 
physician.-—  Van  Swieten. 

CYPRESS,  one  of  the  most  majestic  among  North 
American  trees  ;  growing  in  great  abundance  in  Geor- 
gia. The  delicacy  of  its  colour,  and  the  texture  of  its 
leaves  exceed  almost  every  thing  in  vegetation.  It 
generally  grows  in  the  water,  or  in  low  fiat  lands,  near 
the  banks  of  great  rivers  and  lakes,  which  are  covered 
great  part  of  the  year,  with  two  or  three  feet  depth  of 
water.  When  the  planters  fell  these  mighty  trees,  they 
raise  a  stage  round  them ;  and  on  this  eight  or  ten  ne- 
groes ascend  with  their  axes,  and  fall  to  work  round  the 
trunk  ;  which  usually  measures  from  eight  to  twelve 
K  £ 


102  DAGON—DAMASCUS. 

feet  diameter,  for  forty  or  fifty  feet  straight  shaft.  This 
timber  is  thought  to  be  the  Gopher  wood,  of  which  No- 
ah's ark  was  made  ;  as  great  quantities  of  cypress  grew 
about  Babylon,  near  which  place  the  ark  was  Inrilt. 
This  wood  is  so  incorruptible,  that  the  remains  of  the 
ark  might  have  been  seen  in  Josephus's  time,  as  he 
and  others  affirmed  it  was.  The  imperishable  chests 
which  contain  the  Egyptian  mummies,  are  of  cypress. 
The  gates  of  St.  Peter's  Church  at  Rome,  which  had 
lasted  from  the  time  of  Constantine  to  that  of  Pope  Eu- 
gene the  IV.  that  is  to  say,  eleven  hundred  years,  were 
of  cypress,  and  had  in  that  time  suffered  no  decay.  Ac- 
cording to  Thucydides,  the  Athenians  buried  the  bodies 
of  their  heroes  in  coffins  of  cypress,  as  being  incor- 
ruptible and  undecaying. — Bartrctm,  Bishop 
Danvin. 


D. 

JLr  AGON,  an  idol  of  the  ancient  Philistines,  who  iir- 
habited  the  eastern  coasts  of  the  Mediterranean  Sea,  in 
the  neighborhood  of  Judea.  The  upper  part  of  this 
idol  was  of  human  shape,  and  the  lower  part  like  a  fish, 
as  mermaids  are  represented.  This  figure  of  Dagon 
seems  to  have  been  allegorically  descriptive  of  the 
plenty  yielded  both  by  the  land  and  sea  5  to  which  his 
-worshippers  were  equally  indebted  for  their  subsis- 
tence. 

DAMASCUS,  a  famous  city  of  ancient  Syria,  be- 
longing now  to  the  Turkish  empire.  It  is  thought  to 
have  been  built  by  Uz,  grandson  of  Shem ;  and  conse- 
quently to  be  the  most  ancient  city  in  the  world.  This 
was  a  "city  of  note,  in  the  time  of  the  patriarch  Abra- 
ham ;  for  the  steward  of  his  house,  as  the  sacred  histo- 
rian says,  was  "  Eliezer  of  Damascus."  Such  was  its 
wealth  and  spleddour,  that  at  the  time  it  was  taken  by 
Tamerlane,  and  with  it  three  hundred  thousand  Turks, 
it  was  lighted  with  ninety  thousand  lamps  of  gold  and 
silver.  From  Damascus  was  brought  into  Europe,  and 


DANCING  SERPENTS--DANUBE-DARIEN.  105 

thence  to  America,  the  damask  rose  5  also  that  kind  of 
plum  called  damascene.  Damascus  is  now  called 
Sham. 

'  DANCING  SERPENTS.  In  India  there  is  nothing 
more  common  than  dancing  serpents,  which  are  carried 
about  in  a  large  flat  vessel  somewhat  resembling  a 
sieve.  These  serpents  stand  erect  and  put  themselves 
in  motion  at  the  word  of  command.  When  their  keep- 
er sings  a  slow  tune,  they  seem  by  their  heads  to  keep 
time ;  when  he  sings  a  quicker  measure,  they  appear 
to  move  more  brisk  and  lively. — Goldsmith. 

DANUBE,  the  largest  river  in  Europe  :  it  was  for- 
merly called  Ister,  and  was  the  northern  boundary  of 
the  ancient  Roman  empire.  It  rises  in  Suabia,  and 
passing  through  Bavaria,  Austria,  and  Hungary,  and 
then  through  several  provinces  of  the  Turkish  empire, 
discharges  itself  into  the  Black  Sea,  by  several  mouths, 
after  receiving  sixty  rivers  in  its  course.  There  are 
cataracts  on  this  river,  both  above  and  below  Buda,  in 
Hungary.  The  navigation  of  the  Danube  is  of  very  lit- 
tle use  to  the  different  states  of  Bavaria,  Austria,  and 
Hungary,  in  comparison  of  what  it  would  be  if  any  of 
them  possessed  the  whole  of  its  course  till  it  falls  into 
the  Black  Sea  :  since  the  commerce  which  any  nation 
can  carry  on  by  means  of  a  river  which  does  not  break 
itself  into  any  great  number  of  branches  or  canals,  and 
which  runs  into  another  territory  before  it  reaches  the 
sea,  can  never  be  very  considerable  ;  because  it  is  al- 
ways in  the  power  of  the  nations  which  possess  the  oth- 
er territory,  to  obstruct  the  communication  between  the 
upper  country  and  the  sea. — Jidam  Smith. 

DARIEN,  a  narrow  isthmus,  that  joins  Nortlx  and 
South  America  together.  It  is  three  hundred  miles  in 
length,  and  generally  about  sixty  miles  in  breadth  5  but 
in  one  place  is  no  more  than  thirty-seven  miles  broad. 
From  the  tops  of  the  mountains,  the  Atlantic  and  Paci- 
fic Oceans  can  both  be  seen  at  the  same  time  ;  appear- 
ing to  the  spectator  as  at  a  very  small  distance  from 
each  other.  In  the  year  1698,  the  Scots,  under  the  avow- 
ed patronage  of  the  crown  of  England;  had  planted  a* 


104  DARK  DAYS. 

colony  on  the  isthmus  of  Darien  ;  and  founded  a  settle- 
ment to  which  they  gave  the  name  of  New  Edinburgh. 
For  a  while  there  was  the  most  flattering  prospect  of 
their  success  ;  but  through  the  jealousy  of  the  Span- 
iards and  the  shameful  partiality  of  King  William,  they 
were  completely  disappointed  of  their  hopes,  ruined  in 
their  circumstances,  and  in  a  most  cruel  manner  left 
to  perish  ;  insomuch  that  of  twelve  hundred  brave 
and  enterprising  men,  only  thirty  returned  to  Scot- 
land. 

DARK  DAYS.  The  reverend  Mr.  Sterling  gives 
an  account  (as  published  in  the  Philosophical  Transac- 
tions, in  England)  of  a  darkness  of  six  or  eight  hours  at 
Detroit,  in  North  America,  on  the  19th  of  October,  1762,, 
in  which  the  sun  appeared  as  red  as  blood,  and  thrice 
its  usual  size  5  some  rain  falling,  covered  white  paper 
with  dark  spots,  like  sulphur  or  dirt,  which  burnt  like 
wet  gun-powder,  and  the  air  had  a  very  sulphureous 
smell.  He  supposes  this  to  have  been  emitted  from 
some  distant  earthquake  or  volcano.  Dr.  Darwin  adds, 
that  a  dry  fog  (somewhat  similar  to  the  appearance  at 
Detroit)  covered  most  parts  of  Europe,  for  many  weeks, 
in  the  summer  of  1780,  which  \vas  supposed  to  have 
had  a  volcanic  origin,  as  it  succeeded  the  violent  erup- 
tion of  Mount  Hecla.  It  is  remarkable  that  the  same 
year  which  Dr.  Darwin  mentions,  that  zs,  on  the  19th 
of  May,  in  the  afternoon,  1780,  a  surprising  darkness 
overspread  New-England.  For  several  days  preceding 
this  darkness,  the  sun  appeared  from  morning  to  night, 
unusually  large,  and  nearly  of  the  colour  of  blood  ;  and 
this  was  its  appearance  during  the  forenoon  of  the  me- 
morable 1 9th  of  May.  Early  in  the  afternoon,  the  sun 
was  totally  obscured,  and  all  objects  had  a  yellowish 
or  brassy  hue.  The  darkness  increased  gradually  till 
about  three  or  four  o'clock,  when  the  fowls  went  to 
roost,  candles  were  necessarily  lighted  in  dwelling 
houses,  and  it  seemed  to  be  night.  During  the  pro- 
gress of  this  wonderful  fog,  some  scattering  drops  of 
rain  fell,  attended,  as  it  was  then  said,  with  a  blackish 
powder  that  tinged  the  substances  which  were  touched 
fey  it. 


DAYS— DEAF  PERSONS—DEER.          105 

DAYS.  The  names  of  the  days  of  the  week  are 
thought  to  have  originated  as  follows  :  Sunday  was  so 
called,  because  it  was  dedicated  to  the  sun ;  and  Monday 
took  its  name  from  its  being  dedicated  to  the  moon,  that 
is,  to  the  goddess  Diana.  Tuesday,  according  to  John- 
son, is  derived  from  Tuv,  the  Saxon  name  of  Mars. — 
Wednesday  is  derived  from  Wodin,  or  Odin,  who  was 
worshipped  in  Germany,  and  ancient  Denmark.  Thurs- 
day is  derived  from  the  word  Thor,  which  was  the  Sax- 
on name  of  Jupiter,  or  Jove.  Friday  is  derived  from 
the  Saxon  word  Frigedag,  which  is  supposed  to  have 
been  the  Venus  of  the  ancient  Saxons.  Saturday  has 
taken  its  name  from  Saeter,  a  Saxon  Idol. 

DEAF  PERSONS.  In  1764,  Mr.  Thomas  'Braid- 
wood,  of  Edinburgh,  undertook  the  difficult  task  of  in- 
structing the  deaf  and  dumb  to  speak.  Beginning  with 
one  pupil,  and  encouraged  by  success,  he  afterwards 
taught  a  considerable  number  to  speak  distinctly,  to 
read  and  write,  and  to  understand  arithmetic,  and  the 
principles  of  morality  and  religion.  The  same  curious 
and  highly  interesting  art  has  been  successfully  prac- 
tised on  a  different  plan  in  Germany,  and  France  ;  but 
by  none  with  so  great  success,  as  by  the  Abbe  L'Epee, 
of  Paris.  He  had  instructed  upwards  of  one  thousand 
deaf  and  dumb  persons,  before  he  was  succeeded  by  his 
pupil,  M.  Sicard.  A  regular  institution  for  this  kind  of 
instruction  was  established  in  London,  in  1792,  under 
the  care  of  Mr.  Watson,  a  pupil  of  Mr.  Braidwood..,* 
Miller. 

DEER,  an  animal  that  is  very  common  in  some  parts 
of  the  United  States.  According  to  the  description  of 
doctor  Williams,  his  horns  are  slender,  round,  project- 
ing forwards,  and  bent  into  a  curve,  with  branches  or 
shoots  on  the  interior  side.  These  branches  do  not 
commence  until  the  deer  is  three  years  old  5  and  by  this 
circumstance  the  hunters  compute  their  age.  These 
horns  are  cast  every  spring;  the  new  ones  in  the  course 
of  the  year  will  grow  two  feet  in  length,  and  weigh  from 
two  to  four  pounds.  In  the  spring  the  deer  sheds  his 
hair,  and  appears  of  a  light  red  ;  this  colour  gradu- 
ally crows  darker  until  Autumn,  when  it  becomes  a 


106      DELAWARE— DEL  CANE— DELHI. 

pale  brown ;  and  remains  thus  through  the  'winter. 
They  are  always  in  motion,  and  leap  over  the  highest 
fences  with  ease.  The  fawns  are  red,  most  beautifully 
spotted  with  white  ;  they  are  easily  tamed.  The  Amer- 
ican natives  have  a  curious  method  of  deceiving  these 
animals.  Perouse  says,  "  he  saw  an  Indian  (at  Califor- 
nia) with  a  stag's  head  fixed  on  his  own,  walk  on  all 
fours,  as  if  he  were  brow  zing  the  grass,  and  he  played 
his  pantomime  to  such  perfection,  that  our  hunters  would 
have  fired  at  him  at  thirty  paces,  had  they  not  been  pre- 
vented. In  this  manner  they  approach  herds  of  deer 
within  a  very  small  distance,  and  kill  them  with  a  flight 
of  arrows."" 

DELAWARE,  one  of  the  United  States  of  America  3 

situated  between  38°  SOV  and  40°  north  latitude  :  ex- 
tending ninety -two  miles  in  length,  and  twenty-four  in 
breadth  5  bounded  by  the  river  and  bay  of  the  same 
name,  by  the  Atlantic  ocean,  by  Maryland,  and  Penn- 
sylvania. This  state  appears  to  have  derived  its  name 
from  Lord  Delawar,  who  completed  the  settlement  of 
Virginia.  The  Dutch  and  Swedes  settled  therein  at  a 
very  early  period. — Winterbotham. 

DEL  CANE,  a  grotto  remarkable  for  its  noxious 
vapors.  This  grotto  lies  within  four  miles  of  Naples, 
and  is  near  a  large  lake  of  clear  and  wholesome  water, 
and  surrounded  with  a  country,  which  for  natural  beau- 
ty and  fertility,  resembles  a  Paradise;  yet  is  in  a  man- 
ner uninhabited,  by  reason  of  the  deadly  vapors  that 
proceed  from  this  cavern.  If  a  dog  be  held  in  it  to  a 
certain  depth,  he  loses  all  sensation,  in  the  space  of  four 
or  five  minutes  5  taken  out,  and  dipped  in  the  lake,  he 
quickly  recovers. — Goldsmith. 

DELHI,  the  nominal  capital  of  all  Hindustan,  and 
was  the  actual  capital  during  the  greatest  part  of  the 
time  since  the  Mahometan  conquest.  In  1738,  when 
Nadir  Shah  invaded  Hindustan,  he  entered  Delhi,  and 
dreadful  were  the  massacres,  and  famine  that  followed. 
One  hundred  thousand  of  the  inhabitants  perished  by 
the  sword  in  one  day;  and  plunder  to  the  amount  of 
sixty -two  millions  sterling,  was  said  to  have  been  col- 
lected by  the  conqueror.— ^Mo 


DELTA— DENMARK— DEW.  107 

DELTA,  a  part  of  Lower  Egypt :  taking  its  name 
from  its  triangular  figure,  or  resemblance  to  the  fourth 
letter  of  the  Greek  alphabet;  formed  by  the  Nile's  di- 
viding itself  into  two  great  branches,  and  situated  be- 
tween those  branches  of  the  river  and  the  Mediterrane- 
an sea  ;  extending  a  hundred  and  thirty  miles  in  length, 
and  seventy  in  breadth.  Never  does  it  rain  in  the  Del- 
ta in  summer,  (although  it  is  a  country  extremely  fruit- 
ful) and  but  rarely  in  the  winter.  In  Egypt,  besides  the 
quantity  of  water  that  the  earth  imbibes  at  the  inunda- 
tion, the  dews  which  fall  in  the  summer  nights  suffice 
for  vegetation.  Though  the  water  melons  which  grow 
there  nave  frequently  nothing  under  them  but  a  dry 
dust,  yet  their  leaves  are  always  fresh. — Russell,  Volney. 

DENMARK,  a  northern  kingdom  of  Europe ;  situated 
between  fifty -four  and  fifty-eight  degrees  of  north  lati- 
tude ;  extending  about  two  hundred  and  forty  miles  in 
length,  and  two  hundred  and  fourteen  in  breadth ;  bound- 
ed by  the  Baltic  sea,  by  the  ocean,  and  by  Germany. 
Copenhagen,  which  stands  on  the  island  of  Zealand,  is 
its  capital.  The  whole  population  of  Denmark  Proper 
is  about  two  million  and  nineteen  thousand.  The  first 
account  we  have  of  its  being  a  kingdom,  is  in  714.  In 
the  early  part  of  the  eleventh  century,  Canute  king  of 
Denmark  got  possession  of  the  English  crown,  and 
transmitted  it  to  his  successors  5  who,  however,  did  not 
enjoy  it  long,  being  driven  from  the  throne  of  England 
by  the  Saxons. 

DE  W,a  light,  thin,  transparent  vapor,  that  rises  af- 
ter the  snn  has  descended  below  the  horizon,  and  then 
comes  down  in  small  globules  upon  vegetables,  which 
imbibe'-  it  through  the  orifices  of  their  vessels.  The 
formation  of  this  precious  substance,  which  is  the  most 
invigorating  cordial  to  plants,  has  been  a  mystery  in  the 
chemical  process  of  nature :  having  never  been  explain- 
ed in  amanner  that  was  entirely  satisfactory.  Dew  is 
more  penetrating  than  rain,  and  will  soak  leather  much 
sooner.  May  dew,  or  that  which  falls  in  the  month  of 
May,  is  of  a  yellowish  colour,  and  has  the  property  of 
giving  linen  and  wax  a  beautiful  white.  In  some  coun-- 
tries,  as  in  Egypt  and  Palestine,  where  it  seldom  rains, 


108  DIAMOND— DIANA. 

dews  are  very  copious,  and  in  a  manner  supply  the  de- 
ficiency of  rain.  Hence  it  was  that  Isaac,  in  blessing  his 
eldest  son,  omitted  not  to  assign  him  the  dew  of  heaven 
as  an  important  part  of  his  worldly  portion ;  and  David's 
beautiful  apostrophe  to  the  mountains  of  Gilboa,  where 
Saul  and  Jonathan  fell  in  battle,  implied,  that  withhold- 
ing the  dew  of  Heaven  was  considered  as  one  of  the 
greatest  curses  that  could  befall  a  land.  "  Ye  mountains 
of  Gilboa,  let  there  be  no  dew,"  &c. 

DIAMOND,  a  precious  gem.  The  diamond  is  the 
hardest  of  all  bodies,  and  can  be  wrought  only  by  itself  5 
it  has  a  great  transparency,  and  is  the  brightest  ot  stones  5 
it  occasions  a  stronger  refraction  of  light  than  any  oth- 
er substance ;  it  separates  colours  more,  and  for  this 
reason  it  shines  so  eminently,  particularly  in  the  sun- 
shine, or  even  by  candle  light.  From  an  experiment 
made  in  the  latter  part  of  the  last  century,  by  some  of 
the  most  celebrated  dry  mists  in  Europe,  the  conclusion 
was,  that  when  diamond  is  burnt,  the  whole  product  is 
carbonic  acid  gas ;  that  a  given  weight  of  diamond 
yields  just  as  much  carbonic  acid  gas  as  the  same  weight 
of  charcoal ;  and  that  diamond  and  charcoal  are  botli 
composed  of  the  very  same  substance,  or  rather  diamond 
is  a  compound  of  carbon.  Hence  the  difference  of  co- 
lour, hardness,  specific  gravity,  and  electrical  proper- 
ties, between  common  charcoal  and  the  precious  stone 
called  diamond. — Brisson,  Thompson. 

DIANA,  a  heathen  goddess  by  whom  was  meant 
the  moon,  or  rather  an  inferior  divinity  that  presided 
over  or  inhabited  it.  Diana  was  a  favorite  divinity  of 
the  ancient  Grecians,  who,  in  some  instances,  performed 
\vorship  to  her  with  the  most  cruel  and  barbarous  rites. 
On  the  annual  celebration  of  a  festival  instituted  by  Ly- 
curgus,  in  honor  of  Diana  Orthia,  all  the  Spartan  boys 
were  whipped  until  the  blood  ran  down  unon  the  altar 
of  that  cruel  goddess.  And  this  flagellation  was  per- 
formed in  presence  of  the  magistrates  of  the  city,  and 
under  the  eye  of  fathers  and  mothers ;  who,  instead  of 
compassionating  their  children,  ready  to  expire  from 
the  severity  of  the  lashes,  to  which  they  frequently  fell 
martyr^  exhorted  them  to  suffer  patiently  the  discipline 


DIANA'S  TEMPLE— DIONEA  MUSCIPULA,  &c.   165 

inflicted,  and  without  seeming  to  be  conscious  of  any 
uneasy  sensation. — Cicero.  How  easy  is  the  service  of 
the  true  God,  in  comparison  of  what  the  false  gods  of 
the  nations  have  required  of  their  votaries. 

DIANA'S  TEMPLE.  The  temple  at  Ephesus,  ded- 
icated to  Diana,  was  called  one  of  the  seven  wonders 
of  the  world.  It  had  been  built  in  the  name,  and  at  the 
instance  of  all  Asia  Minor  ;  and  a  great  number  of  years 
were  employed  in  building  it.  Its  length  was  four  hun- 
dred and  twenty -five  feet,  and  its  breadth  two  hundred 
and  twenty.  It  was  supported  by  an  hundred  and  twen- 
ty-seven columns,  threescore  feet  high,  which  many 
kings  had  caused  to  be  wrought  at  great  expense  and 
by  the  most  expert  artists,  who  endeavored  to  rival  one 
another  in  'the  excellence  of  the  workmanship ;  the 
rest  of  the  temple  corresponding  with  the  magnilicence 
'  of  the  columns.  In  the  year  of  the  \vorld  3648,  (three 
hundred  and  thirty-six  years  before  our  Saviour's  nativi- 
ty) being  the  year  in  which  Alexander  the  Great  was 
born,  this  temple  was  set  on  fire  and  burnt,  purposely, 
by  one  Herostratus,  with  a  view,  as  he  himself  avowred, 
of  immortalizing  his  name. — Rollin. 

DIONEA  MUSCIPULA,  an  extraordinary  plant, 
with  thick  leaves  disposed  in  the  form  of  hinges,  cover- 
ed with  prickles,  and  furnished  by  nature  with  an  lion- . 
ied  substance.  The  flies  attracted  by  the  sweetness  of 
the  liquor,  come  to  feast  themselves  upon  it :  but  the 
plant  is  endued  with  such  acute  sensibility,  that  it  is  ir- 
ritated by  the  smallest  touch ;  the  leaf  doubles  up  its 
fold,  shuts  upon  itself,  seizes  the  insect  within  its 
prickles,  pierces  and  kills  it.  This  plant  grows  in  the 
marshes  of  South  Carolina,  and  thence  was  sent  over  to 
Europe  by  Dr.  Franklin. — St.  Fond. 

DISMAL  SWAMP,  a  vast  bog,  extending  from 
north  to  south  nearly  thirty  miles  ;  and  from  east  to  west 
at  a  medium  about  ten ;  it  lies  partly  in  Virginia,  and 
partly  in  North  Carolina.  Not  less  than  five  navigable 
rivers,  besides  creeks,  rise  out  of  it  5  whereof  two  run 
into  Virginia,  and  three  into  North  Carolina.  The 
ground  of  this  swamp  is  a  mere  quagmire  $  and  it  js 
L 


110         DIVING  BELL— DOMINGO,  ST. 

overgrown  with  reeds,  bamboo-briars,  and  cypress.  It 
is  remarkable,  that  towards  the  heart  of  tliis  horrible 
desart,  no  beast  or  bird  approaches ;  nor  indeed  do  any 
birds  care  to  fly  over  it,  any  more  than  they  are  said  to 
do  over  the  lake  Jlvernus,  for  fear  of  the  noisome  ex- 
halations that  rise  from  this  vast  body  of  dirt  and  misti- 
ness.—-American  Museum, 

DIVING  BELL,  a  machine  invented  for  the  pur- 
pose of  exploring  the  bottom  of  the  sea.  In  the  great 
diving  bell,  improved  by  Dr.  Halley,  which  was  large 
enough  to  contain  five,  men,  and  was  supplied  with  fresh 
air  by  buckets  that  alternately  rose  ana  fell,  they  de- 
scended fifty  fathom.  In  this  huge  machine,  which  was 
let  down  from  the  mast  of  a  ship,  the  doctor  himself 
went  down  to  the  bottom,  where,  when  the  sea  was  clear, 
and  especially  when  the  sun  shone,  he  couid  see  per- 
fectly well  to  write  or  read,  and  much  more  to  take  up 
any  thing  that  was  underneath :  at  other  times,  wheii 
the  water  was  troubled  and  thick,  it  was  as  dark  as 
night  below,  so  that  he  was  obliged  to  keep  a  candle 
lighted  at  the  bottom.  But,  what  was  more  remarka- 
ble, the  water,  which  from  above  is  usually  seen  of  a 
green  colour,  when  looked  at  from  below,  appeared  to 
him  of  a  different,  hue,  casting  a  redness  upon  one  of 
ibis  hands,  like  thattof  a  damask  rose. — Goldsmith. 

DOMINGO,  ST.  or  Hispaniofa,  (now  called  the  isl- 
and or  empire  of  Hayti^  an  island  in  the  Atlantic  Ocean, 
at  the  entrance  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  being  the  largest 
of  the  West  India  islands,  except  Cuba :  the  natives 
called  it  //«?/££,  signifying  high  or  mountainous  land. 
Columbus,  who  landed,  on  it,  the  sixth  of  December, 
1492,  gave  it  the  name  of  Hispaniola,  or  Little  Spain  ; 
it  was  afterwards  called  St.  Domingo,  from  the  name 
of  its  capital  town  :  it  is  one  hundred  and  sixty  miles 
long  from  east  to  west,  and  from  sixty  to  seventy  broad 
from  north  to  south.  After  the  Spaniards  had  taken 
possession  of  this  island,  the  natives  were  ordered  to 
collect  gold  dust  5  but  they  were  so  unused  to  gather 
it  in  such  quantities  as  their  conquerors  demanded,  that 
they  offered  to- plant  the  immense  plains  of  the  island, 
send  pay  an  equivalent  in  ccrn.  Columbus  was  struck; 


DRUIDS—DUTCH  FISHERY.  Ill 

vnth  the  magnitude  of  the  proposal ;  and  in  conse- 
quence, moderated  the  tribute.  This  did  not  satisfy 
the  avarice  of  his  fellow  adventurers,  who  found  means 
to  complain  of  him  to  the  king's  ministers,  for  his  negli- 
gence in  acquiring  the  only  commodity  which  they 
thought  deserved  the  name  of  riches.  To  such  an  in- 
famous height  did  the  Spaniards  carry  their  oppressions 
of  the  poor  natives,  that,  within  four  years  from  th» 
first  discovery  of  the  island,  one  third  part  of  its  inhabi- 
tants, (or  from  three  to  four  hundred  thousand)  perish- 
ed. t  Since  the  year  1790,  St.  Domingo  has  been  the 
stage  of  some  of  the  most  barbarous  cruelties  and  ter- 
rible massacres,  ever  witnessed  since  the  creation.— 
Morse,  Bdknap. 

DRUIDS,  the  Priests,  and  Ministers  of  Religion 
amongst  the  ancient  Britons,  Gauls,  and  Germans.  They 
were  in  Britain  th®  first  and  most  distinguished  order 
in  the  island,  and  were  treated  with  the  highest  venera- 
tion. Once  a  year  they  used  to  assemble  in  a  wood,  in 
the  centre  of  the  island,  and  there  to  hear  causes  :  from 
their  determination  there  was  no  appeal,  and  whoever 
refused  to  acquiesce  in  their  decisions,  was  reckoned 
impious,  and  excommunicated.  They  are  represented 
by  the  Romans  as  exceedingly  cruel  in  their  religious 
rites,  and  even  as  guilty  of  offering  human  sacrifices  to 
their  gods.  Ceesar,  in  his  commentaries,  informs  us, 
that  the  Druids,  in  honor  of  their  gods,  burned  men  in 
baskets  of  ozier  ;  and  that  when  criminals  were  want- 
ing for  this  horrible  purpose,  they  sacrificed  even  the 
innocent. — Fenning,  St.  Pierre. 

DUTCH  FISHERY.  In  1610,  the  Dutch,  who  car- 
ry on  the  herring  fishery  on  the  coasts  of  Scotland  and 
Norway,  employed  in  it  three  thousand  boats  and  fifty 
thousand  fishermen,  without  reckoning  nine  thousand 
other  vessels  employed  in  barrelling  and  conveying 
them  to  Holland  ;  anfl  a  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  per- 
sons, partly  at  sea,  and  partly  on  shore,  engaged  in  the 
carrying  trade,  and  in  preparing  and  salting.  At  that 
period  they  derived  a  revenue  from  it,  of  two  million 
six  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  pounds  sterling,  It  is 
related  by  Pont  Oppidam,  a  bishop  in  Norway,  that 


112  EAGLE— EARTH. 

when  the  herrings  coasted  along  the  shores  of  that 
country,  the  whales  which  pursued  them  in  great  nunv 
bers,  and  darted  their  \vater-spouts  into  the  air,  gave  to 
the  sea,  at  a  distance,  the  appearance  of  being  covered 
over  with  smoaking  chimnies.  The  herrings,  in  order 
to  elude  the  pursuit,  threw  themselves  close  in  shore 
into  every  little  bay  and  creek,  where  the  water,  before 
tranquil,  formed  considerable  swellings  and  surges, 
wherever  they  crowded  to  make  their  escape. — &t* 
Pierre. 


E. 

AGLE,  the  king  of  birds.  As  Ms  flight  is  higher 
than  that  of  any  other  bird,  the  ancients  called  him  the 
bird  of  heaven  5  they  also  called  Mm  the  bird  of  Jupiter 
the  thunderer,  inasmuch  as  he  often  seemed  to  soar 
among  the  clouds.  This  fierce  animal  may  be  consider- 
ed among  birds  as  the  lion  among  quadrupeds.  He 
strongly  resembles  the  lion  in  courage  and  magnanimi- 
ty, in  a  solitary  disposition,  in  tha  sparkling  of  his  eyes, 
in  the  form  of  his  claws,  in  the  strongness  of  his  breath, 
and  in  his  loud  and  terrifying  cry.  The  eagle  in  his 
.flight  first  stoops  toward  the  ground^,  and  then  rises  per- 
pendicularly inta  the  clouds.  He  carries  away  not  only 
lambs  and  kids,  but  sometimes  small  children.  An  in- 
stance is  recorded  in  Scotland  of  two  children  being 
carried  off  by  eagles;  but  fortunately  they  received  no 
hurt  by  the  way ;  and,  the  eagles  being  pursued,  the 
children  were  restored  unhurt  out  of  the  nests  to  their 
affrighted  parents.  Less  fortunate  was  a  poor  Scots 
peasant,  who  having  robbed  an  eagle's  nest  of  its  young 
while  the  old  ones  were  away,  was  pursued  by  them 
and  despatched  with  their  beaks  and  talons, — Goldsmith. 

EARTH,  the  planet  we  inhabit.  That  the  figure  of 
the  earth  is  spherical,  or  globular,  is  evident  from  many 
particulars  5  ,as  when  the  moon  is  eclipsed,  the  shadow 
of  the  earth,  which  interposes  between  the  sun  and  that 
bedy  appears  circular  upon  it.  The  earth  is  abort 


EARTHQUAKE.  113 

ninety-one  million  miles  from  the  sun ;  (Bowditch  says, 
ninety-six,)  and  journeys  round  him  in  three  hundred 
and  sixty-five  days,  five  hours  and  forty-nine  minutes, 
nearly  ;  its  motion  being  about  a  hundred  and  ^twenty 
times  swifter  than  a  cannon  ball,  in  its  greatest  velocity. 
The  diameter  of  the  earth  is  about  seven  thousand  nine 
hundred  and  ninety -nine  miles  ;  and  by  turning  round 
its  axis  every  twenty -four  hours  from  west  to  east,  it 
causes  an  apparent  diurnal  motion  of  all  the  heavenly 
bodies  from  east  to  west.  Thus  like  a  chariot  wheel, 
the  earth  has  a  compound  motion ;  for  while  it  goes 
forward  on  its  journey,  it  is  all  the  while  turning  upon 
itself,  From  the  first  of  these  two  motions  there  rises 
the  grateful  vicissitude  of  the  seasons  ;  from  the  second 9 
that  of  day  and  night. .  By  the  rapid  motion  of  the  earth 
on  its  axis  the  inhabitants  about  the  equator  are  carried 
one  thousand  and  forty -two  geographical  miles  every* 
hour,  while  those  on  the  parallel  of  London  are  carried 
only  five  hundred  and  eighty  miles  an  hour,  besides 
live  hundred  and  eighty  thousand  miles  an  hour  by  the 
annual  motion  about  the  sun,  which  is  common  to  all 
places  on  the  surface  of  the  globe. — Diet.  Bible,  Gold.- 
smith. 

EARTHQUAKE,  "  a  sudden  and  violent  concussion 
of  the  earth,  which  is  generally  attended  with  noise, 
both  in  the  air  and  under  ground."  Earthquakes  are 
most  frequent  in  the  neighborhood  of  volcanoes,  which 
are  commonly  at  no  great  distance  from  the  sea.  A 
short  time  previous  to  the  shock  the  sea  swells  and 
roars,  even  though  ijt  be  a  dead  calm  ;  wells  and  foun- 
tains become  foetid,  and  brute  animals  seem  to  be  fright- 
ened. The  shocks  begin  with  a  rumbling  noise,  like 
that  of  carnage  wheels  running  upon  a  pavement,  and 
sometimes  resembling  the  roaring  of  cannon.  A  sin- 
gle shock  seldom  continues  longer  than  a  minute,  which 
is  followed  by  others,  at  short  intervals  $  meanwhile 
there  is  often  perceived  a  strong  swell  of  sulphur.-— 
Earthquakes  are  sometimes  very  extensive ;  but  we 
read  of  none  that  extended  over  the  whole  globe. 
"  They  are  thought  to  arise  from  the  confinement  of 
air  within  the  bowels  of  the  earth,  where  it  is  generated 
by  sulphureous  vapours  acting  on  metallic  ores,  the 
L  £ 


114  ECLIPSE. 

principal  of  which  appears  to  be  iron."  This  theory 
seems  to  have  been  confirmed  by  experiment.  Mr. 
Winthrop,  formerly  Professor  of  Natural  Philosophy 
and  Astronomy,  in  Cambridge  University,  observed, 
*'  there  is  so  strong  an  attraction  between  iron  and  sul- 
phur, that  even  the  gross  body  of  sulphur,  powdered, 
and  with  an  equal  weight  of  iron  filings  and  a  little  wa- 
~ter,  made  into  paste,  in  a  few  hours  grows  too  hot  to  be 
touched  and  emits  a  flame.  This  paste,  if  put  a  few 
feet  under  ground,  will  by  degrees  cause  the  earth  over 
it  to  heave  and  crack,  to  let  out  the  flame ;  thus  pro- 
ducing an  artificial  earthquake."  Of  the  ravages  of 
earthquakes,  during  the  last  century,  the  following  in- 
stances were  among  the  most  terrible.  In  the  early 
part  of  that  century  there  \vas  an.  earthquake,  which,  in 
a  quarter  of  an  hour,  laid  the  whole  country  of  Peru  in 
ruins,  to  the  extent  of  three  hundred  leagues  in  length, 
-and  ninety  in  breadth.  In  1730,  a  great  part  of  the 
kingdom  of  Chili,  together  with  its  capital,  St.  Jago,  was 
swallowed  up  by  an  earthquake :  as  were  also  four 
whole  provinces  in  China,  the  next  year.  In  1754,  a 
great  part  of  the  city  of  Constantinople  was  destroyed 
by  an  earthquake  ;  and  the  same  year  two  thirds  of  the 
houses  of  Grand  Cairo,  and  forty  thousand  of  the  inha- 
bitants, were  swallowed  up.  In  1755,  most  of  the  hous- 
es in  Lisbon  and  fifty  thousand  inhabitants,  were  de- 
stroyed by  an  earthquake,  in  about  eight  minutes  ;  and 
the  same  earthquake  buried  ten  thousand  people  at  the 
Azores  Islands.  In  1783,  a  great  part  of  Calabria  was 
destroyed  by  an  earthquake,  and  more  than  forty  thou- 
sand people  lost  their  lives. 

ECLIPSE,  the  darkening  of  one  of  the  luminaries  by 
the  interposition  of  some  opaque  body  between  it  and 
the  eye.  The  sun  is  eclipsed  by  the  moon's  interven- 
ing between  the  earth  and  the  sun.  An  eclipse  of  the 
moon  is  when  the  shadow  of  the  earth,  being  between 
the  sun  and  moon,  hinders  the  light  of  the  sun  from 
falling  upon  and  being  reflected  by  the  moon  :  if  the 
light  of  the  sun  is  kept  off  from  the  whole  body  of  the 
moon,  it  is  a  total  eclipse,  if  from  a  part  only,  it  is  a  par- 
tial one.  To  nations  ignorant  of  the  laws  of  nature,  ail 
eclipse  is  terrible  5  denoting  in  their  apprehension,  the 


ECLIPTIC.  115 

anger  of  the  gods.  An  eclipse  of  the  sun  fortunately 
happening  while  two  armies,  in  ancient  Greece,  were 
engaged  in  battle ;  they  desisted  from  lighting,  and  en- 
tered into  a  league  of  amity.  Christopher  Columbus, 
taking  an  advantage  of  the  superstition  of  savages, 
availed  himself  of  an  eclipse  for  the  saving  of  his  own 
life,  and  the  lives  of  his  men.  They  were  shipwrecked 
and  cast  upon  the  island  of  Jamaica  5  where  the  natives, 
at  first  friendly,  became  hostile,  and  refused  them  sup- 
plies of  provision.  Columbus,  knowing  that  an  eclipse 
of  the  moon  was  at  hand,  sent  for  the  principal  Indians  ; 
told  them  that  God  was  angry  with  them  for  their  in- 
hospitality  towards  him ;  and,  as  a  token,  that  the  moon 
in  the  evening  would  appear  of  an  angry  bloody  colour. 
His  prediction  coming  exactly  to  pass,  their  enmity 
was  turned  into  veneration  ;  and  there  was  no  more 
want  of  pro  vision,  while  he  remained  on  the  island. 

ECLIPTIC,  the  "great  circle  in  which  the  earth  per- 
forms her  annual  revolution  round  the  sun,  or  in  which 
the  sun  seems  to  move  round  the  earth  once  a  year  5 
cutting  the  equator  under  an  angle  of  twenty-three  de- 
grees and  twenty -eight  minutes.  This  circle  is  suppos- 
ed to  be  divided  into  twelve  parts,  each  of  which  is 
marked  with  one  of  the  twelve  signs,  and  contains  the 
space  of  a  month.  The  goodness  of  God  is  striking! v 
seen  in  the  path  of  the  sun.  The  sun  is  in  the  equator 
only  twice  a  year,  namely  the  twentieth  of  March,  and 
about  the  same  time  in  September,  when  the  days  and 
nights  are  equal.  Were  the  sun  constantly  in  the  equa- 
tor, it  is  questionable  whether  a  single  spot  of  the  globe 
would  be  habitable.  First,  the  torrid  zone  would  be 
burnt  up  by  his  fervent  heat ;  the  two  icy  zones  would 
extend  much  farther  than  they  do  at  present ;  the  tem- 
perate zones  would  be  at  least  as  cold  toward  their  mid- 
dle, as  they  are  with  us  at  the  vernal  equinox,  (or  at 
the  twentieth  of  March ;)  and  this  temperature  would 
prevent  the  greatest  part  of  fruits  from  coming  to  ma- 
turity. But  the  sun  neither  moves  in  the  circle  of  the 
equator,  which  would  parch .  the  earth  and  destroy  all 
vegetation  in  the  torrid  zone,  nor  in  the  circle  of  the 
meridian,  (or  north  and  south)  which  would  produce  an 
inundation  of  water  (by  melting  all  the  ice  at  the  poles  ,;) 


116  EGYPT— ELECTRIC   FLUID. 

but  his  course  is  traced  in  the  ecliotic,  describing  a% 
spiral  line  between  the  two  poles  of  the  earth.  In  this 
harmonious  course,  he  dispenses  cold  and  heat,  dryness 
and  humidity,  and  derives  from  these  powers,  each  of 
them  destructive  by  itself,  latitudes  so  varied^  and  so 
temperate,  all  over  the  globe,  that  an  infinite  number 
of  creatures,  of  an  extreme  delicacy,  find  in  them  every 
decree  of  temperature  adapted  to  their  frail  existence. 
—St.  Pierre. 

EGYPT,  a  country  of  Africa  5  bordering  on  the  Me- 
diterranean, and  on  the  Red  Sea  5  situated  betweei\two 
ridges  of  mountains,  in  a  valley,  through  the  midst  of 
\vhich  the  Nile  pours  its  fertilizing  stream;  extending 
about  five  hundred  miles  in  length,  and  about  a  hundred 
and  sixty  in  average  breadth  ;  containing  in  the  times 
of  its  ancient  prosperity,  a  prodigious  number  of  weal- 
thy cities  and  towns,  and  about  eight  millions  of  people. 
Upper  Egypt  extends  itself  no  where  above  a  few  miles 
from  the  Nile,  and  in  lower  Egypt  that  great  river 
breaks  itself  into  many  different  canals,  which,  with  the 
assistance  of  art,  seem  to  have  afforded  to  the  ancient 
inhabitants  the  means  of  watering  the  country  at  plea- 
sure, and  also  a  communication  by  water  carriage,  not 
only  between  all  the  great  towns,  but  between  all  the 
considerable  villages.  Of  all  the  countries  on  the  coast 
of  the  Mediterranean  Sea,  Egypt  seems  to  have  been 
the  first  in  which  either  agriculture  or  manufactures 
were  cultivated  and  improved  to  any  considerable  de- 
gree. It  was  a  kingdom  in  the  time  of  the  patriarch 
Abraham  ;  in  Jacob's  time  it  fed  the  neighboring  coun- 
tries in  seasons  of  dearth  and  scarcity  ;  it  was  the  cra- 
dle of  the  arts  and  sciences,  which  were  carried  from 
Egypt  to  Greece,  and  thence  to  the  western  parts  of 
Europe  ;  while  subject  to  the  Roman  empire,  it  was 
the  granary  of  Rome,  as  it  now  is  of  Constantinople, 
notwithstanding  the  wretched  condition  to  which  it  is 
reduced  by  the  Turkish  government. 

ELECTRIC  FLUID,  an  exceedingly  subtile  fluid 
that  pervades  bodies  generally,  and  is  the  same  as  light- 
ning. In  the  year  1744,  Mr.  Von  Kleist  discovered  Ihe* 
method  of  giving  a  shock,  by  accumulating  the  electri- 


ELEPHANT.  117 

cal  fluid  in  a  jar,  and  discharging  it  by  means  of  a  con- 
ductor ;  and  the  next  year  the  experiment  being  re- 
peated, in  a  different  manner,  and  with  better  success, 
by  Mr.  Cunaeus,  of  Leyden,  the  jar  so  filled  became 
generally  known  by  the  name  of  the  Leyden  Phial, 
which  it  has  retained  to  the  present  day.  In  the  year 
1752,  Dr.  Franklin  discovered  the  identity  of  the  electric 
fluid  and  lightning.  The  doctor  also  first  discovered, 
"in  conjunction  with  his  friend,  Mr.  Thomas  Hopkinson, 
the  peculiar  power  of  pointed  bodies,  to  draw  off*  the 
electrical  matter,  more  effectually,  and  at  a  greater  dis- 
tance than  others  ;  founded  on  which,  was  his  ingenious 
invention  for  defending  houses  from  the  destructive  ef- 
fects of  lightning,  by  the  use  of  Metallic  Conductors. 
He  elevated  a  tall  rotl,  with  wire  wrapped  round  it,  and 
fixing  the  bottom  of  the  rod  into  a  glass  bottle,  and  pre- 
serving it  from  falling  by  means  of  silk  strings,  he  found 
it  electrified  whenever  a  cloud  passed,  over  it,  receiv- 
ing sparks  by  his  finger  from  it,  and  charging  coated 
phials.  This  great  discovery  taught  us  to  defend  houses, 
and  ships,  and  temples  from  lightning,  and  also  to  un- 
derstand, that  people  are  safe  in  a  room  during  a  iitsn- 
der-storm,  if  they  keep  themselves  at  three  or  four  feet 
distance  from  tJie  walls.  For  the  matter  of  lightning,  in 
passing  from  the  clouds  to  the  earth,  or  from  the  earth 
to  the  clouds,  runs  through  the  walls  of  a  house,  the 
trunk  of  a  tree,  or  other  elevated  objects  5  except  there 
be  some  moister  body,  as  an  animal,  in  contact  with 
them,  or  nearly  so  \  and  in  that  case  the  lightning  leaves 
the  wall  or  tree,  and  passes  through  the  animal  $  but  as 
it  can  pass  through  metals  with  still  greater  facility,  it 
will  leave  animal  bodies  to  pass  through  metallic  ones. 
— ^liller,  Darwin.  On  this  principle,  lightning  has 
sometimes  melted  the  metal  buttons  iii  a  man's  sleeves, 
or  upon  his  coat,  without  hurting  his  body  5  in  fact,  the 
metal  buttons  diverted  the  lightning  from  his  body,  and 
saved  ffis  life. 

ELEPHANT,  a  quadruped  of  a  prodigious  size,  and 
of  remarkable  sagacity.  Jie  sometimes  grows  to  the 
height  of  eleven  or  twelve  feet,  and  his  body  is  thick  in 
proportion.  He  has  instead  of  a  nose,  a  long,  hollow 
piece  of  flesh,  which  grows  over  his  mouth  to  the  length 


118  ELM. 

of  three  or  four  feet,  and  is  called  his  trunk,  or  proto* 
scis :  this  trunk  he  bends  with  ease  and  swiftness  in  ev- 
ery direction,  twisting  off  with  it  the  branches  of  trees, 
or"  letting  it  down  into  the  water,  when  he  wants  to 
drink,  and  sucking  up  several  gallons  at  a  time,  then 
doubling  the  end  of  it  back,  discharges  the  whole  con- 
tents into  his  mouth.  Although  his  strength  is  prodi- 
gious, he  is  naturally  mild  and  inoffensive,  but  impatient 
of  insult,  or  ill  usage  ;  and  when  roused  to  rage,  be- 
comes one  of  the  most  terrible  of  animals.  In  the  east- 
ern parts  of  the  world,  where  elephants  are  bred,  prin- 
ces keep  them  to  ride  upon,  and  use  them  for  war:  a 
kind  of  tent  or  pavilion  is  fixed  upon  the  back  of  the 
animal,  in  which  one  or  more  persons  is  placed?rand 
the  keeper  that  is  used  to  manage  him5  sits  upon  the 
neck  of  the  elephant,  and  guides  him  by  means  of  a 
pole  with  an  iron  hook  at  the  end.  From  experiments 
lately  made  at  Paris,  it  has  been  discovered  that  ele- 
phants have  an  ear  for  music  ;  that  they  will  leave  their 
food  to  listen  to  the  musician  5  and  that  their  behaviour 
becomes  either  turbulent,  or  gay,  or  languishing,  in  ex- 
aetx  correspondence  to  the  different  expressions  of  the 
music  they  hear. — Day,  *V.  Lou,  Rev. 

ELM,  a  stately,  majestic,  and  long-living  tree,  that 
grows  spontaneously  in  the  United  States.  The  tree  it- 
self is  generally  known  5  but  it  is  not  so  generally  known 
that  farmers  in  Europe  use  its  tendrils  for  fences.  In, 
the  Bath  (Agricultural)  Papers,  elms  are  'recommend- 
ed for  hedges;  and  the  following  method  of  raising 
tli em  for  this  purpose  are  said  to  be  the  best.  When 
elm  timber  is  felled  in  the  spring,  sow  the  chips  made 
in  trimming  or  hewing  them  green,  on  a  piece  of  ground 
newly  ploughed,  as  you  would  corn,  and  harrow  them 
in.  Every  chip  which  has  an  eye  or  bud-knot,  or  some 
bark  on  it,  will  immediately  shoot  like  the  cuttings  of 
potatoes ;  and  the  plants  thus  raised,  having  no  tap- 
roots, but  shooting  their  fibres  horizontally  in  the  rich- 
est part  of  the  soil,  will  be  more  vigorous,  and  may  be 
more  safely  and  easily  transplanted,  than  when  raised 
from  seeds  or  in  any  other  method.  The  plants  thus 
raised  for  elm  fences,  have  greatly  the  advantage  of 
others  ;  as  five,  six,  and  sometimes  more  stems  will 


EMBALMING—ENGLAND.  119 

fcrise  from  the  same  chip  ;  and  such  plants,  if  cut  down 
within  three  inches  of  the  ground,  will  multiply  their 
side  shoots  in  proportion,  and  make  a  hedge  thicker, 
without  running  to  naked  wood,  than  by  any  other  me- 
thod yet  practised.  If  kept  clipped  tor  three  or  four 
years,  they  will  be  almost  impenetrable. — Encyclopaedia* 

EMBALMING,  the  preparing  of  the  bodies  of  the 
dead  so  as  to  prevent  their  putrefaction.  This  process 
has  been  said  to  have  been  performed  in  Egypt,  by  dis- 
embowelling the  dead  body,  washing  it  with  the  oil  of 
cinnamon,  myrrh,  and  other  rich  spices  for  forty  days, 
and  also  by  replenishing  the  inside  with  these  ingredi- 
ents. The  body  was  then  put  into  a  pickle  of  nitre,  or 
salt-petre,  till  seventy  days  were  completed  from  the 
time  they  begun  their  operations  ;  and,  thus  prepared, 
it  would  keep  for  centuries. — Orion.  The  principal 
reason  why  the  ancient  Egyptians  were  so  solicitous  to 
preserve  the  bodies  of  the  dead,  was  the  belief  that  the 
soul  continued  with  the  body  until  the  latter  was.  putrU 
fied ;  for  the  same  reason  they  built  themselves  magni- 
ficent tombs,  of  the  most  durable  materials, 

ENGLAND,  a  principal  part  of  the  kingdom  and 
island  of  Great  Britain ;  bounded  on  the  north  by  Scot- 
land, on  the  east  by  the  German  Ocean,  on  the  south  by 
the  English  Channel,  and  on  the  west  by  the  Atlantic, 
Wales,  and  the  Irish  Sea ;  extending  from  50°  to  55* 
40'  north  latitude.  The  rigors  of  winter,  as  well  as 
the  parching  heats  of  summer,  are  felt  here  in  a  much 
less  degree  than  in  parallel  climates  on  the  continent;  a 
circumstance  common  to  all  islands.  While  the  sea- 
ports in  Holland  and  Germany  are  every  winter  locked 
up  with  ice,  those  of  England,  and  even  of  Scotland, 
are  very  seldom  known  to  suffer  this  inconvenience.—- 
Morse 9  Jiikin.  The  names  England  or  English  began 
to  be  given  to  the  people  of  South  Britain,  about  "the 
latter  part  of  the  nintli  century.  These  names  took 
their  origin  from  the  Jingles,  who  together  with  the 
Saxons,  two  nations  or  tribes  from  Germany,  had  over- 
spread and  conquered  a  considerable  part  01  the  island  j 
were  called  Anglo  Sawons. 


i20          ENGLISH  NAVY— ERA— ERIC. 


the 


ENGLISH  NAVY,  first  formed  in  the  ninth  centu- 
King  Alfred  may  be  considered  as  the  creator  of 
the  English  navy.-  Sensible  that  ships  were  the  most 
natural  bulwark  of  an  island,  he  (about  the  year  880) 
provided  himself  with  a  naval  force,  and  met  the  Danes, 
those  terrible  invaders  of  England  on  their  own  element. 
A  fleet  of  a  hundred  and  twenty  armed  vessels  was  sta- 
tioned upon  the  coast ;  and  being  provided  with  warlike 
engines,  and  expert  seamen,  maintained  a  superiority 
over  the  enemy,  and  gave  birth  to  that  claim,  which 
England  has  supported,  of  a  sovereignty  of  the  ocean. — 
Russell. 

ERA,  an  account  of  time,  reckoned  from  any  parti- 
cular period,  term,  or  epoch.  The  Jews  had  several 
eras,  as  from  the  creation  of  the  world,  from  the  univer- 
sal  deluge,  from  the  confusion  of  languages,  from  Abra- 
ham's journey  to  the  land  of  Canaan,  from  the  departure 
of  their  forefathers  out  of  Egypt,  from  the  building  of 
Solomon's  temple,  and  from  the  Babylonish  captivity. 
The  ancient  Greeks  reckoned  time  by  Olympiads,  which 
were  public  games  celebrated  every  fifth  year ;  the  first 
Olympiad  they  placed  in  the  year  of  the  world  3187. 
The  ancient  Romans  reckoned  from  the  building  of  their 
city,  winch  was  in  the  year  of  the  world  3113.  The 
Christians  take  their  era  from  the  birth  of  our  Saviour  ; 
this  method  of  computing  time  commencing  among 
them,  about  the  beginning  of  the  seventh  century.  The 
Mahometans  compute  their  time  from  the  Hegira  or 
flight  of  their  prophet,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  617: 
subtracting  this  number  (617)  from  the  Christian  year, 
the  remainder  will  be  the  Mahometan  year. 

ERIC,  the  fine  for  murder  in  Ireland,  which  was  le- 
vied on  the  criminal,  and  sometimes  upon  the  commu- 
nity, and  which  varied  as  to  the  sum  according  to  the 
rank  of  the  person  murdered.  Accordingly,  about  two 
centuries  ago,  when  Sir  William  Fitz Williams,  while 
lord  deputy  of  Ireland,  told  Maguire,  an  Irish  chieftain, 
that  he  was  about  to  send  a  sheriff'  into  Fermanah,  which 
had  been  made  a  county  a  little  before,  and  subjected 
to  the  English  laws  ;  Maguire  replied,  "  Your  sheriff 
shall  be  welcome  to  me  $  but  let  me  know  beforehand 


ERIE  LAKE— ERMINE-ESQUIMAUX.    121 

his  eric,  or  the  price  of  his  head/that  if  any  of  my  people 
should  cut  it  off,  I  may  levy  the  money  upon  the  county.5* 
Somewhat  similar  to  the  Irish  Eric  was  the  custom  ot 
the  ancient  Grecians,  in  what  were  called  the  heroic 
ages.  Homer,  speaking  in  the  person  of  Ajax,  says, 
"  a  brother  receives  the  price  of  a  brother's  blood  : 
fathers  for  their  slain  sons  are  appeased.  ^  The  mur- 
derer pays  the  high  fine  of  his  crime,  and  in  his  ci*y 
unmolested  remains." — Russell. 

ERIE  LAKE,  a  large  lake  in  North  America;  the 
line  between  the  United  States  and  Upper  Canada  run- 
ning through  it.  It  is  situated  bgcween  41°  and  43* 
north  latitude ;  and  forms  part  of  tlie  western  bounda- 
ry of  the  state  of  New- York.  It  is  from  two  hundred 
and  twenty- five  to  two  hundred  and  sixty  miles  in. 
length,  and  from  forty  to  sixty  broad.  It  communicates, 
at  its  northeast  end,  with  Lake  Ontario  by  the  strait  of 
Niagara.  This  lake  abounds  with  excellent  fish,  and 
also  with  pernicious  serpents.  The  islands  and  banks 
towards  its  west  end  are  much  infested  with  rattle 
snakes  ;  and  on  the  leaves  of  the  large  water  lilly,  which 
grows  here,  covering  the  surface  of  the  water,  to  an 
extent  of  many  acres,  myriads  of  water  snakes  lie  bask* 
in£  in  the  sun  in  summer.  Of  the  venomous  serpents, 
Which  infes,t  this  lake,  the  hissing  snake  is  the  most  re- 
markable, and  is  accounted  the  most  deadly.  See  HIS- 
SING SNAKE. 

ERMINE,  a  most  beautiful  little  quadruped,  usually 
about  nine  inches  long  :  its  body  is  white,  the  tail  being 
always  tipped  witli  black.  Some  have  a  stripe  of  dark 
brown,  or  mouse  colour,  extending  along  the  back,  from 
the  head  to  the  tail ;  the  other  parts  being  perfectly 
white.  The  ermine  is  remarkable  for  the  softness,  the 
closeness,  and  the  warmth  of  its  fur.  In  the  north  of 
Europe  and  Siberia,  their  skins  make  a  valuable  article 
of  commerce  :  they  are  found  in  some  parts  of  the  Uni- 
ted States,  particularly  in  Vermont, — 'Goldsmith,  Wil- 
liams. 

ESQUIMAUX,  a  race  of  Indians  who  inhabit  the 
country  north  of  Canada,  and  in  the  neighborhood  of 
M 


122  ETNA— EUROPE. 

Hudson's  Bay  5  and  in  lowness  of  stature  and  the  fea- 
tures of  their  faces,  resemble  the  Laplanders  of  Europe. 
Few  Europeans  are  able  to  endure  cold,  fatigue,  hunger, 
or  adversity  in  any  shape  with  an  equal  degree  of  com- 
posure to  that  which  is  familiar  to  these  savages.  Af- 
ter being  out  a  whole  day  on  a  hunt,  exposed  to  the 
bleakest  winds  and  most  penetrating  cold,  (for  the  cold 
is  so  extreme  that  the  ice  in  the  rivers  is  eight  feet 
thick,)  and  that  without  the  least  thing  to  satisfy  the 
calls  of  nature,  an  Indian  comes  home,  warms  himself 
at  the  fire,  smokes  a  few  pipes  of  tobacco,  and  then  re- 
tires to  rest,  as  calm  as  if  in  the  midst  of  plenty.  Mis- 
sionaries sent  from  the  Moravian  brethren,  have  had 
considerable  success  in  converting  the  Esquimaux  to 
the  Christian  faith. — Winterbotham.  See  NEW -BRITAIN. 

ETNA,  a  famous  burning  mountain  in  the  island  of 
Sicily  ;  about  nine  thousand  feet  in  height ;  from  sixty 
to  seventy  miles  in  circumference  at  the  base ;  and  ris- 
ing in  the  form  of  a  cone  till  it  terminates  in  a  circum- 
ference of  about  three  miles.  On  the  summit  is  the 
crater,  or  fiery  abyss,  more  than  a  mile  in  diameter, 
round,  and  unfathomably  deep.  From  the  bottom  of 
the  mountain  you  ascand  ten  leagues  be  fore  reaching  its 
summit  on  the  south  side ;  and  on  any  of  the  other  sidels, 
the  way  being  not  so  straight,  would  be  considerably 
longer.  Etna  has  been  a  volcano  for  ages  immemorial ; 
its  eruptions  are  very  violent ;  and  its  discharge  has  been 
known  to  cover  the  earth  sixty-eight  feet  deep.  The 
mountain  itself  seems  to  have  been  entirely  composed 
of  substances  that  have  been  discharged  from  the  volca- 
no in  its  various  eruptions ;  the  ilames  whereof  have 
been  seen  at  Malta,  which  is  sixty  leagues  distance. 
In  1755,  Etna,  from  the  crater  on  its  summit,  emitted  an 
immense  torrent  of  boiling  water,  which  dashing  its  aw- 
ful cataracts  from  one  chain  of  rocks  to  another,  at  length 
reached  the  cultivated  plains,  which  it  overflowed 
for  a  number  of  miles  ;  and  dividing  itself  into  several 
branches,  formed  a  number  of  deep  and  rapid  rivers, 
which  discharged  themselves  into  the  sea. — Howell,  and 
others. 

EUROPE,   one  of  the  four  great  divisions  of  the 


EUROPEAN  LANGUAGES.  821 

world ;  bounded  on  the  west  by  the  Atlantic ;  on  the 
north  by  the  Frozen  Ocean ;  on  the  east  by  Asia  ; 
and  on  the  South  by  the  Euxine  or  Black  Sea,  and  the 
Mediterranean.  It  is  about  three  thousand  and  three 
hundred  miles  in  length,  and  about  two  thousand  and 
seven  hundred  in  breadth;  and  is  situated  between 
thirty-six  and  seventy -two  degrees  north  latitude,  lying 
nearly  all  within  the  temperate  zone.  "  Although  Eu- 
"  rope,"  (says  Reichard)  «  is  the  smallest  of  the  four 
"  great  divisions  in  number  of  square  miles,  it  hasredu- 
«  ced  to  its  subjection  a  great  part  of  the  other  quarters 
"  of  the  world.  It  governs  all  that  part  of  the  Ameri- 
"  can  continent  that  has  been  peopled  from  Europe,  the 
"  United  States  excepted.  It  possesses  almost  all  the 
"  islands  which  have  been  discovered  in  the  three  great 
"  Oceans,  the  Pacific,  the  Atlantic,  and  the  Indian.  It 
"  gives  laws  to  more  than,  half  Asia,  to  the  greater  part 
"  of  the  coasts  of  Africa,  and  to  several  interior  coun- 
"  tries  of  considerable  extent :  so  that  nearly  half  of  the 
"  inhabited  world  bows  to  Europe."  It  cannot  be,  how- 
ever, that  Europe  gives  laws  to  naif  the  people  of  Asia, 
though  it  may  to  more  than  half  the  territory  ;  for  Chi- 
na alone,  over  which  Europe  has  no  control,  is  compu- 
ted to  have  a  population  of  more  than  three  hundred 
million. 

EUROPEAN  LANGUAGES.  The  languages  of 
Europe  are  derived  from  the  Latin,  Celtic,  Gothic,  and 
Sclavonian.  The  Italian,  Spanish,  Portuguese,  and 
French  languages  are  derived  from  the  Latin.  The 
Scotch,  Welsh,  and  Irish  languages  are  from  the  Celtic. 
The  high  and  low  Dutch,  the  English,  (which  is  also 
enriched  with  the  spoils  of  many  other  languages,)  the 
Danish,  Norwegian,  Swedish,  and  Jutlandic,  are  from 
the  Gothic.  The  Polish,  Bohemian,  Russian,  and  sev- 
eral other  languages  of  Europe,  are  from  the  ancient 
Sclavonian.  In  the  English  language,  Doct.  Johnson, 
in  his  Dictionary,  has  collected  about  forty -eight  thou- 
sand words.  The  reverend  H.  Croft  asserts  that  he  has 
made  a  list  of  eleven  thousand  more,  which  he  proposes 
to  introduce  into  a  new  work  ;  making  in  the  whole 
fifty -nine  thousand  English  words.  In  a  highly  cele- 
brated work  of  Mr,  John  Home  Tooke,  published  in  the 


*&4      -  KUXINE. 

jear  1786,  and  entitled  Diversions  of  Ptirlei/,  the  autW 
has  been  thought  by  some  grammarians,  to^  have  done 
'more  to  explain  the  whole  theory  of  language,  than  any, 
or  than  all  his  predecessors.  The  leading  doctrine  oi4 
Mr.  T0oke  is,  that  there  are  only  two  necessary  parts 
of  speech,  namely,  the  noun  and  the  verb,  and  that  all 
other  words,  whether  adverbs,  conjunctions, prepositions, 
Sec.  are  to  be  considered  as  corruptions  or  alterations^. 
these  two  :  and  of  course,  that  the  latter  classes  of 
words,  instead  of  being  in  themselves  mere  unmeaning 
sounds,  might  be  traced  to  a  distinct  and  sensible  signi- 
fication.— Fry,  Miller.  The  English  language^  which,  & 
little  more  than  two  centuries  ago,  was  confined  to  the 
British  island,  will  in  all  probability,  within  a  century 
hence,  be  spoken  by  more  than  a  hundred  million  peo- 
ple. Nor  is  it  a  little  remarkable,  that  the  greatest  por- 
tion of  civil  liberty  enjoyed  in  the  world  at  the  present 
day,  is  to  be  found  among  those  who  speak  the  Eng- 
lish as  their  mother  tongue.  It  is  the  language  of  ree- 
TnenT 

EUXINE,  or  Black  Sea,  a  sea  about  six  hundred 
miles  in  length,  which  forms  a  part  of  the  boundary  be- 
tween Europe  and  Asia,  and  communicates  with  the 
Mediterranean  by  the  strait  of  Constantinople.  It  re- 
ceives the  Danube  and  Nieper:  and  the  produce  of 
land  is  exceedingly  plenty  and  cheap  in  the  countries 
\vhichborderupon  these  and  other  large  rivers  that 
empty  into  the  Euxine.  Mr.  Towson,  in  his  account 
of  Hungary,  which  lies  on  the  Danube,  says, "  Wherever 
I  went,  I  was  led  into  cellars  full  of  wine,  and  into  gra- 
jiaries  full  of  corn,  and  I  was  shown  pastures  full  of  cat- 
tle. If  I  felicitated  the  owners  on  their  rich  stores,  I 
heard  one  common  complaint,  "  the  want  of  a  market*" 
The  Ukraine,  which  lies  on  the  banks  of  the  Nieper, 
nnd  is  inhabited  by  the  Cossacs,  is  one  of  the  cheapest 
countries  in  the  world  :  wheat  is  said  to  sell  there  from 
one  shilling  to  two  shillings  sterling  a  bushel.  If  any 
revolution  should  open  the  straits  of  Constantinople,  so 
lhat  the  productions  of  the  countries  on  the  Danube  and 
Nieper  might  rush  from  the  Euxine  through  this 
t  into  the  Mediterranean,  and  thence  into  all  the 
western  parts  of  Europe:  should  such  an  event  happen^ 


EVAPORATION— FELLAHS.  125 

its  plain  consequence  would  be  the  loss  of  the  Europe- 
an markets  to  the  people  of  the  United  vStates  of  Ame- 
rica ;  where  labor  is  three-fold  higher  and  land  produce 
three-fold  dearer,  than  in  the  countries  aforementioned, 

EVAPORATION,  "  the  conversion  of  fluids,  prin- 
cipally water,  into  vapor,  which  is  specifically  lighter 
than  the  atmosphere."  Evaporation  is  constantly  taking 
place,  not  only  from  the  surface  of  the  ocean,  but  from 
that  of  the  earth,  and  even  from  the  leaves  of  trees  and 
vegetables.  By  means  of  this  great  and  marvellous  che- 
mical process,  the  whole  vegetable  kingdom  is  suppli- 
ed with  the  necessary  nourishment  of  dew  and  rain  5  the 
water  which  is  thus  raised,  descending  again  in  dews 
and  showers j  is  absorbed  by  the  vegetable  tribes.  Dr. 
Williams,  makfe  his  calculations  from  actual  experi- 
ments, compute|!y.  that  from  one  acre  of  land  well  cov- 
ered with  l$rge  trees,  three  thousand  eight  hundred 
and  seventy-l^s  gallons  of  water  are  thrown  off  and  dis- 
persed in  the  atmosphere,  in  the  space  of  twelve  hours, 
in  the  summer  season.;/;  Also,  from  experiments  on 
the  emission  of  air,  he^cafculated,  that  fourteen  thousand 
seven  hundred '•and  seventy-four  gallons  of  air,  are 
thrown  oft*  in  twelve  hours,  from  one  acre  of  land,  thus 
covered  with  trees. 


F. 

JF  ELLAHS,  the  miserable  peasants  of  Egypt.  Vol- 
ney  says,  "  I  have  seen  them  pass  whole  days  in  draw- 
ing water  from  the  Nile,  exposed  naked  to  a  sun  which 
would  kill  us.  Those  who^are  valets  to  the  Mamelukes, 
or  military  officers  of  Egypt,  continually  follow  their 
masters.  In  town,  or  in  tne  country,  and  amid  all  the 
dangers  of  war,  they  accompany  them  every  where,  and 
always  on  foot ;  they  will  run  befof Q?or  after  their  hors- 
es for  days  together ;  and  when  they  are  fatigued,  tie 
themselves  to  the  tails'  of  their  masters'  horses,  rather 
than  be  left  behind."  % 

M  3  \ 


1£6  FETICHE— FINGER  OFFERING— FIRE. 

FETICHE,  a  remarkable  kind  of  snake,  which  is 
ttiade  an  object  of  religious  worship,  in  Whydah.  a 
kingdom  of  Africa.  This  snake  has  a  large,  round,  beau- 
tiful head,  a  short,  pointed  tongue,  resembling  a  dart, 
and  a  sharp,  short  tail.  It  is  slow  and  solemn  in  its  pace, 
except  when  it  seizes  on  its  prey,  when  it  is  quick  and 
rapid.  It-is  tame  and  familiar  5  the  natives  and  Euro- 
peans handling  and  playing  with  them,  without  dread 
or  apprehension  of  danger.  When  the  English  first 
settled  in  Whydah,  a  sailor  just  arrived,  found  one  of 
these  snakes  in  the  magazine  belonging  to  the  factory, 
and  killing  it,  threw  it  on  the  bank.  The  negroes,  filled 
with  rage  and  terror  at  the  murder  of  one  of  their  gods, 
assembled  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  province,  and  mas- 
sacred the  factors  to  a  man ;  consuming  their  bodies 
and  goods  in  the  fire  they  had  set  to  their  warehouse. — 
Walker. 

FINGER  OFFERING.    When    the  people  of  the 

Friendly  Islands  (in  the  Pacific  Ocean)  are  afflicted 
with  any  dangerous  disorder  which  they  apprehend 
may  bring  them  to  the  grave,  they  cut  off  the  little  fin 
ger;  supposing  that  this  would  be  accepted  as  a  kind  of 
propitiatory  sacrifice  sufficiently  efficacious  to  procure 
their  recovery.  There  is  scarcely  one  to  ten  among 
them  who  is  not  thus  mutilated,  in  one  hand  or  the  other :, 
and  many  have  made  an  oblation  of  both  their  little  fin- 
gers.— Cookers  Voyage. 

FIRE,  that  subtile,  invisible  cause,  which  easily  pene- 
trates both  solid  and  liquid  matters,  and  renders  them 
hot  to  the  touch.  It  is  also  the  chief  agent, 'by  which 
the  composition  and  decomposition  of  natural  bodies  is 
generally  effected  ;  so  that,  without  fire,  the  animal  and 
vegetable  kingdoms  would  cease  to  exist.  Fire  is  uni- 
versally necessary  to  human  existence,  in  particular, 
even  in  the  hottest  climates.  By  means  of  fire  alone, 
man  guards  his  habitation,  by  night,  from  the  ravenous 
beasts  of  prey;  drives  away  the  insects  which  thirst  for 
his  blood :  clears  the  ground  of  the  trees  and  plant* 
which  cover  it,  and  whose  stems  and  trunks  would  re- 
sist every  species  of  cultivation,  should  he  find  means 
any  other  way,  to  bring  them  down.  In  a  word,  in. every 


FIRE-BALL— FIRE-DAMP.  137 

country*  \vith  fire  he  prepares  his  food,  dissolves  metals. 
hardens  clay  into  brick,  softens  iron,  and  gives  to  all  the 
productions  of  the  earth,  the  form  and  combinations 
which  his  necessities  require.  It  is  a  benevolent  ordi- 
nation of  Providence,  that  the  management  of  fire  be- 
longs exclusively  to  man ;  if  any  of  the  inferior  animals 
had  sagacity  enough  to  enkindle  fires,  it  would  lead  to 
inconceivable  mischief.  Here  is  one  of  the  dividing 
lines  between  the  human  and  brutal  natures  5  the  most 
sagacious  dog,,  how  much  soever  he  delights  in  the 
warmth  of  a  nre,  is  never  known  to  supply  it  with  fuel. 
— Dom.  Enci/c.  St.  Pierre. 

FIRE -BALL,  a  remarkable  kind  of  meteor.  Fire- 
balls differ  from  lightning,  and  from  shooting  stars,  in 
many  remarkable  circumstances  :  as  their  very  great 
bulk,  being  a  mile  and  a  half  in  diameter  5  their  travel- 
ling a  thousand  miles  nearly  horizontally  5  their  throw- 
ing oft*  sparks  in  their  passage ;  their  changing  colours 
from  bright  blue  to  dusky  red  5  and  their  leaving  a  train 
of  fire  behind  them,  continuing  about  a  minute.  Dr. 
Blagden  has  related  the  history  of  one  of  these  meteors? 
or  fire-balls,  which  was  seen  the  18th  of  August,  1783. 
This  was  computed  to  be  between  sixty  and  seventy 
miles  high,  and  to  have  travelled  a  thousand  miles,  at  the 
rate  of  about  twenty  miles  in  a  second.  This  fire-ball 
had  likewise  a  train  of  light  left  behind  in  its  passage, 
which  varied  in  colour,  and  in  some  parts  of  its  course, 
and  gave  off  sparks  or  explosions  where  it  had  been 
brightest;  and  a  dusky  red  streak  remained  visible 
perhaps  a  minute.— -Darwin. 

FIRE-DAMP,  a  white  globular  vapor,  sometimes 
HO  bigger  than  a  walnut,  and  sometimes  as  large  as  a 
man's  head  $  moving  slowly  near  the  bottom  of  mines, 
and  taking  fire  and  making  an  explosion  when  touched 
with  a  candle.  Some  years  ago  a  fire-damp  in  one  of 
the  tin  mines  of  Cornwall  in  England,  being  touched, 
as  was  supposed,  by  the  light  of  a  candle  or  lamp,  the 
explosion  was  tremendous.  A  vast  quantity  of  fire  burst 
up  out  of  the  shaft,  or  passage  into  the  mine,  and  arose 
in  a  compact  body  to  the  height  of  a  hundred  and  twen- 
ty feet.  The  whole  frame  of  woodwork,  though  very 


128  FIRE-FLY— FIRE-SPOUTS. 

solid,  was  torn  up  and  gone  ;  and  the  miners,  (eight  i« 
number)  were  destroyed  :  one  was  tossed  high  into  the 
air,  while  the  rest  were  suffocated  below,  aiid  then  bu- 
ried in  the  ruins. 

FIRE -FLY.  a  creature  of  the  beetle  kind,  which  is 
said  to  be  about  two  inches  long,  and  inhabits  the  West 
Indies  and  South  America.  The  natives  use  them  in- 
stead of  candles,  putting  from  one  to  three  of  them  un- 
der a  glass.  Madame  Merian  says,  that  at  Surinam  the 
light  of  this  fly  \vas  so  great,  that  she  saw  sufficiently 
well  by  one  of  them,  to  paint  and  finish  one  of  the  fig- 
ures of  them  in  her  worlt. — Darwin. 

FIRE-SPOUTS.  Torrents  of  liquid  fire  have  some- 
times burst  from  the  earth  and  overwhelmed  the  adja- 
cent country,  in  a  manner  somewhat  different  from  the 
common  eruptions  of  volcanoes ;  and  are  called  Fire- 
Spouts.  In  1783,  three  fire-spouts  broke  out  in  Iceland, 
in  the  province  of  Shapterfiall,  Signs  of  the  eruptions 
were  perceived  on  the  first  of  June  5  the  earth  begin- 
ning to  tremble,  and  a  continual  smoke  or  steam  rising 
from  it.  On  the  eighth  of  June  the  fire  became  visible, 
and  the  atmosphere  was  filled  with  sand,  brimstone,  and 
ashes,  in  such  a  manner  as  to  occasion  continual  dark- 
ness. The  three  different  fire-spouts,  in  a  short  time, 
united  into  one,  and  rolled  its  billows  of  flame  so  bigh 
as  to  be  seen  at  the  distance  of  more  than  two  hundred 
miles  5  the  whole  country,  for  double  that  distance,  be- 
ing covered  with  a  smoke  or  steam  not  to  be  described. 
The  torrent  of  fire  took  its  course  first  down,  and  then 
up  the  channel  of  the  river  Skapta,  and  entirely  con- 
sumed or  dried  up  its  waters  :  at  length  coming  to  the 
hill,  in  which  the  river  had  its  source,  the  fiery  deluge 
rose  to  a  prodigious  height,  and  overflowed  the  village 
of  Buland,  which  was  situated  upon  the  top  of  the  hill  5 
consuming  the  houses,  church,  and  every  thing  that 
stood  in  its  way.  It  still  increased,  spreading  itself  out 
in  length  and  breadth  for  many  miles,  drying  up  other 
rivers  besides  the  Skapta,  overflowing  a  number  of  vil- 
?  and  converting  a  large  tract  of  country  into  a  sea 
of  fire.  It  continued  its  dreadful  progress,  in  different 
directions,  till  the  thirteenth  of  August  $  after  whick 


FISHES— FLAMINGO.  129 

the  fiery  lake  no  longer  spread  itself,  but  nevertheless 
continued  to  burn  for  some  length  of  time.  The  smoke 
reached  as  far  as  the  island  of  Great  Britain,  where, 
during  the  whole  summer  of  1783,  an  obscurity  pre- 
vailed throughout  all  parts  of  that  island  ;  the  atmos- 
phere appearing  to  be  covered  with  a  continual  haze, 
which  prevented  the  sun  from  appearing  with  iris  usual 
splendor* — Brit*  Encyclopaedia. 

FISHES.  These  are  the  most  prolific  animals  in  na- 
ture. Lewenhoek  assures  us,  that  the  cod  spawns  about 
nine  millions  in  a  season  ;  that  the  flounder  commonly 
produces  above  one  million  \  and  the  mackerel  above 
live.  These  animals  are  also  remarkable  for  their  lon- 
gevity 5  their  age  being  determined  by  the  circles  of 
their  scales.  When  a  fish's  scale  is  examined  by_  a  mi- 
croscope, it  is  found  to  consist  of  a  number  of  circles, 
one  within  another,  in  some  measure  resembling  those 
which  appear  on  the  transverse  section  of  a  tree,  and  is^ 
CU??0?ed  t-0  *ive  the-  satna  mfbrEuthS,  ?C7  *£  in  trees* 
we  can  tell  their  age,  by  the  number  of  their  circles  ; 
so  in  fishes,  we  can  tell  theirs  by  the  number  of  circles 
in  every  scale,  reckoning  one  ring  for  every  year  of  the 
animal's  existence.  Of  these  animals  of  the  deep  Lin- 
iireus  has  described  about  four  hundred  species ;  but 
since  he  wrote,  the  catalogue  has  been  so  much  enlarg- 
ed by  circumnavigators  and  travellers,  that  they  now 
amount  to  considerably  more  than  one  thousand. — En- 
cyclopaedia,  Miller. 

FLAMINGO,  a  large  and  beautiful  bird,  of  a  fire- 
colour,  which  is  seen  on  the  shores  of  India.  They 
generally  inhabit  in  swampy  grounds,  and  salt  marshes, 
in  the  waters  of  which  they  construct  their  nests,  by 
raising  out  of  the  moisture  of  a  foot  deep,  a  little  hil- 
lock of  mud,  a  foot  and  a  half  high.  They  there  make 
a  hole  in  the  summit  of  this  hillock ;  in  this  the  hen 
deposits  two  eggs,  and  hatches  them,  with  her  feet  sunk 
in  tjie  water,  by  means  of  the  extreme  length  of  her 
legs.  When  several  of  these  birds  are  setting  at  the 
same  time  on  their  eggs,  in  the  midst  of  a  swamp,  you 
would  take  them  at  a  distance,  for  the  flames  of  a  con- 
flagration, bursting  from  the  bosom  of  the  waters, — St.* 
flerre. 


ISO  FLANDERS— FLINT. 

FLANDERS,  a  country  of  the  Netherlands  5  sixty 
miles  long,  and  about  fifty  in  breadth  ;  bordering  upon 
the  German  Ocean,  and  English  Channel.  The  Flem- 
ings, or  people  of  Flanders,  were  formerly  the  princi- 
pal manufacturers  and  merchants  of  Europe,  and  from 
them  the  English  learnt  the  art  of  weaving.  All  the 
wool  of  England,  before  the  reign  of  Edward  III,  (that 
is,  about  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth  century)  except  a 
small  quantity  wrought  into  coarse  cloth  for  home  con- 
sumption, was  sold  principally  to  the  Flemings,  and  ma- 
nufactured by  them  :  and  it  was  not  till  the  middle  of 
the  fifteenth  century,  that  the  English  were  capable  of 
fabricating  cloth  for  foreign  market.  Flanders  table 
linens,  lace,  and  tapestry,  are  yet  thought  to  be  superior 
to  all  others.  In  Anderson's  History  of  Commerce,  we 
are  told,  that  one  ounce  of  the  finest  Flanders  thread  has 
been  sold  in  London  for  four  pounds  sterling  ;  and  that 
such  an  ounce  made  in  Flanders  into  the  finest  lace 
might  be  sold  there  (in  London)  for  forty  pounds :  which 
is  above  ten  times  the  price  of  staiitiard  gold,  weight  for 
weight.  This  fine  thread,  according  to  Anderson,  is 
spun  by  little  children,  whose  feeling  is  finer  than  that 
of  fljrown  people,  whereby  they  are  capable  of  spinning 
sucii  a  thread  as  is  smaller  than  the  finest  hair  ;  and  one 
ounce  of  that  thread  is  said  to  reach  in  length  sixteen 
thousand  yards. 

FLINT,  a  hard  kind  of  stone,  used,  together  with 
steel,  for  producing  fire.  Prometheus  first  struck  fire 
from  flints,  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  fifteen 
years  before  the  birth  of  Christ ;  and  hence  he  is  said 
to  have  brought  tire  down  from  heaven.  When  flints 
are  struck  against  other  flints,  they  have  the  property 
of  giving  sparks  of  light ;  but  it  seems  to  be  an  internal 
light,  perhaps  of  electric  origin,  very  different  from  the 
ignited  sparks  which  are  struck  from  the  flint  and  steel. 
The  sparks  produced  by  the  collision  of  steel  with  flint, 
appear  to  be  globular  particles  of  iron,  which  have  been 
fused  and  imperfectly  vitrified.  They  are  kindled  by 
the  heat  prpduced  by  the  collision  $  but  their  vivid 
li^lit,  and  their  fusion  and  vitrification  are  the  effects  of 
a  combustion  continued  in  these  particles  during  their 
passage  through  the  air.  One  cause  of  gun-locks  miss- 


FLOATING  GARDENS— FLORIDA.       131 

ing  fire  is,  the  flint  being  imperfectly  fixed,  as  the  form 
of  the  hammer  allows  it  to  be  struck  only  in  one  partic- 
ular place  ;  a  flint,  therefore,  too  high  or  too  low,  too 
long  or  too  short,  misses  fire.  In  a  hammer  lately  con- 
structed (in  England)  this  cannot  happen,  for  be  the 
flint  struck  wherever  it  may,  it  must  produce  the  effect 
required. — Keir,  New  London  Review. 

FLOATING  GARDENS,  curious  gardens  of  Mex- 
ico, which  float  on  the  lake  Fetzuco.  The  Mexicans, 
in  making  these  gardens,  plait  and  twist  willows,  and 
roots  of  marsh  plants,  or  other  materials  together,  which 
are  light,  but  capable  of  supporting  the  earth  of  the 
garden.  On  this  foundation  they  lay  little  bushes,  and 
Xipon  that  the  mud  which  they  draw  up  out  of  the  lake. 
These  gardens  are,  in  some  instances,  about  eight  rods 
in  length,  and  three  in  breadth,  and  have  less  than  a  foot 
of  elevation  above  the  surface  of  the  water.  They  cul- 
tivate flowers  and  every  sort  of  garden  herbs  upon 
them.  In  the  largest  gardens  there  is  commonly  a  lit- 
tle tree,  and  even  a  little  hut  to  shelter  the  cultivator, 
and  defend  him  from  the  rain  and  sun.  When  the 
owner  of  the  garden  wishes  to  change  his  situation,  he 
gets  into  his  little  boat,  and  by  his  own  strength  alone, 
if  the  garden  be  small,  or  with  the  assistance  of  others, 
if  it  be  large,  he  tows  it  after  him,  and  conducts  it  wher- 
ever he  pleases,  with  the  little  tree  and  hut  upon  it. — • 
That  part  of  the  lake,  where  the  floating  gardens  are,  is 
a  place  of  infinite  recreation,  where  the  senses  receive 
their  highest  possible  gratification.— Mbe  Clavigero. 

FLORIDA,  a  country  of  North  America,  claimed  by 
the  king  of  Spain,  but  mostly  possessed  by  the  native 
Indians  ;  situated  betwee.n  £5°  and  31°  north  latitude  ; 
extending  six  hundred  miles  in  length,  and  one  hun- 
dred and  thirty  miles  in  medial  breadth ;  bounded  north 
by  Georgia,  east  by  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  south  by  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico  and  west  by  the  Mississippi.  It  is  di- 
vided into  JEast  and  West  Florida.  St.  Augustine,  sit- 
uated on  the  sea  coast,  is  the  capital  of  East  Florida  ; 
and  the  principal  town  of  West  Florida  is  Pensacola. 
This  country  produces  two  crops  of  Indian  corn  a  year : 


152    FLOWERING  TREES— -FLYING  FOX,  &c. 

it  took  its  name  from  the  profusion  of  flowers  with  which 
it  was  clad,  when  first  discovered  by  the  Europeans* 

FLOWERING  TREES.  The  three  following  arc 
the  most  celebrated  flowering  trees  of  China,  with  which 
the  Chinese  ornament  their  gardens.  First,  the  Ou- 
tong-tree,  which  is  of  a  large  size,  and  resembles  the 
sycamore,  or  maple  :  arid  is  loaded  with  such  bunches 
of  flowers  that  it  excludes  the  rajs  of  the  sun.  Second, 
the  Molien^  the  branches  of  which  are  few  in  number, 
very  slender,  and  covered  with  red  bark,  interspersed 
with  small  white  spots.  This  tree  produces  large  flow- 
ers, formed  of  seven  or  eight  sharp  pointed  oval  leaves  ; 
the  flowers  being  some  red,  others  yellow,  and  others 
white*  Third,  the  Yu-tan,  a  most  beautiful  tree,  which 
rises  to  the  height  of  thirty  or  forty  feet.  All  its  branch- 
es are  crowned  with  flowers,  the  scent  of  which  per- 
fumes the  air  to  a  great  distance  around.- JFiwterfcof/tawi. 

FLYING  FOX,  a  singular  animal  found  in  the  Pe- 
lew  Islands.  According  to  captain  Wilson's  descrip- 
tion, this  animal  has  some  similitude  to  the  bat,  but  is 
five  or  six  times  larger  ;  it  resembles  a  fox  in  its  head, 
and  has  much  the  same  smell.  It  runs  along  the 
ground,  and  up  trees,  like  a  cat  :  it  has  wings  that  ex* 
tend  pretty  wide,  by  which  it  flies  like  a  bird. — Wil- 
son's  Journal. 

FLYING  SQUIRREL,  a  native  of  the  North  Amer- 
ican forests.  This  remarkable  little  animal  lias  a  kind 
of  wings,  (or  membranes  spread  like  wings)  by  which 
lie  will  fly  from  one  tree  to  another,  at  the  distance  of 
thirty  or  forty  feet.  None  of  our  animals  has  a  more 
fine  or  delicate  fur  than  this  little  squirrel.  He  feeds 
on  the  buds  or  seeds  of  vegetables  ;  and  generally  has 
his  nest  in  decayed  and  rotted  trees.— 'Williams. 

FORMOSA,  an  island  in  the  Chinese  Sea  5  extend- 
ing about  two  hundred  and  forty  miles  in  length,  and 
sixty  in  its  greatest  breadth  ;  separated  from  the  conti- 
nent of  China  by  a  strait,  sixty  miles  over  :  it  received 
its  name  of  Formosa  on  account  of  its  singular  beauty. 
The  inhabitants  rear  a  great  number  of  oxen?  which  they 


F01TLAHS— £OX.  13S 

\ise  for  riding,  from  a  want  of  horses  and  mules.  They 
accustom  them  early  to  this  kind  of  service,  and  by  dai- 
ly exercise,  train  them  to  go  well  and  expeditiously. 
These  oxen  are  furnished  with  a  bridle,  saddle,  and 
crupper ;  and  a  Chinese  looks  as  big  and  is  as  proud 
when  mounted  in  this  manner,  as  if  he  were  carried  by 
the  finest  Barbary  courser,—-  JFinterbotham. 

FOULAHS,  a  people  of  Africa,  inhabiting  in  great 
numbers  the  countries  near  the  river  Gambia :  they 
are  generally  of  a  tawny  complexion,  with  soft  silky 
hair,  and  pleasing  features.  They  are  much  attached 
to  a  pastoral  life,  and  have  introduced  themselves  into 
all  the  kingdoms  in  the  windward  coasts  of  Africa,  as 
herdsmen  and  husbandmen ;  paying  a  tribute  to  the 
sovereign  of  the  country  for  the  land  which  they  hold. 
The  Foulahs  being  bigoted  Mahometans,  most  of  them 
view  a  Christian  with  horror,  especially  their  women 
and  children.  Whilst  Mungo  Park  was  in  the  interior 
of  Africa,  a  Foulah,  of  more  than  ordinary  liberality  of 
mind,  invited  him  into  his  tent,  and  some  food  was  bro't 
him.  When  he  was  eating,  the  children  kept  their 
eyes  fixed  upon  him  ;  and  no  sooner  did  the  shepherd 
pronounce  the  word  Nazarene,  (that  is  Christian)  than 
they  began  to  cry,  and  their  mother  crept  slowly  to- 
wards the  door,  out  of  which  she  sprung  like  a  grey^ 
liound,  and  was  instantly  followed  by  her  three  chil- 
dren ;  so  frightened  were  they  at  the  very  name  of  a 
Christian,  that  no  intreaties  could  induce  them  to  ap- 
proach the  tent. 

FOX,  a  common  and  mischievous  animal,  which,  in 
all  ages  and  nations,  has  been  celebrated  for  its  craft 
and  wiles.  He  is  so  extremely  fond  of  honey,  that  he 
attacks  the  nests  of  wild  bees,  regardless  of  their  fury. 
They  at  first  put  him  to  flight  by  numberless  stings  ; 
but  he  retires  for  the  sole  purpose  of  rolling  himself 
upon  the  ground  and  crushing  his  enemies  under  him. 
He  returns  to  the  charge  so  often,  that  he  obliges  them 
to  abandon  the  hive,  which  he  soon  uncovers,  and  de- 
vours both  the  honey  and  the  wax.  The  fox  sleeps  in 
a  round  form,  like  the  dog  5  but  when  he  only  reposes 
himself;  he  lies  on  his  belly  with  his  hind-legs  extend* 


134  FRANCE. 

ed.  It  is  in  this  situation,  that  he  eyes  the  birds  on  the 
hedges  and  trees.  The  birds  have  such  an  antipathy 
against  him,  that  they  no  sooner  perceive  him,  than  they 
send  forth  shrill  cries  to  warn  their  neighbors  of  the 
enemy's  approach.  The  jays  and  blackbirds,  in  parti- 
cular, follow  the  fox  from  tree  to  tree,  sometimes  two 
or  three  hundred  paces?  often  repeating  the  watch-cries. 
•— Smellie. 

FRANCE,  a  large  and  powerful  empire  of  Europe  ; 
extending  nearly  seven  hundred  miles  in  length,  and 
about  six  hundred  and  fifty  in  breadth  ;  bounded  by  the 
Atlantic  Ocean,  the  English  Channel,  the  German 
Ocean,  Holland,  Germany,  Swisserland,  the  Mediter- 
ranean Sea,  and  the  Pyrenean  Mountains.  The  air  is 
wholesome,  the  soil  is  diversified  and  productive,  the 
mineral  productions  are  various,  and  the  situation  of  the 
country  is  favorable  to  commerce.  This  country  had 
been  a  province  of  the  Romans,  and  was  anciently  call- 
ed Gaul.  In  the  year  486,  Clovis.  having  defeated  the 
Roman  governor,  begun  the  French  monarchy,  estab- 
lishing a  new  kingdom,  to  which  he  gave  the  name  of 
France,  or  the  land  of  free  men.  In  the  year  751,  Pe- 
pin assumed  the  sovereignty,  excluding  forever  the 
neirs  of  Clovis.  One  of  the  descendants  of  Pepin. 
naimely,  Charlemagne,  or  Charles  the  Great,  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  ninth  century,  possessed  all  France,  all 
Germany,  part  of  Hungary,  part  of  Spain,  the  Low 
Countries,  and  most  of  Italy.  In  the  year  987,  Hugh 
Capet,  the  most  powerful  nobleman  in  France,  seized 
the  crown,  and  expelled  the  race  of  Pepin.  Thirty- 
three  descendants  of  Hugh  Capet  reigned,  in  succes- 
sion, over  France,  during  the  period  of  eight  hundred 
years,  nearly  ;  the  last  of  this  race  being  the  unfortu- 
nate Louis  XVI.  who  was  beheaded,  January  23,  1793. 
The  torrents  of  blood  shed  in  the  revolution  in  France, 
commenced  with  the  taking  of  the  Bastile,  July  14, 
1789.  The  French,  in  the  incipient  stage  of  the  revo- 
lution, shook  off  at  once  all  civil,  moral,  and  religious 
restraints.  The  authority  even  of  the  Most  High  they 
openly  disclaimed.  It  is  asserted  by  Foder,  that  atheism 
was  established  in  France  for  three  years  and  a  half,  to 
wit,  from  September,  1792?  to  March,  1796  5  during  all 


FRANCE,  ISLE  OF,  &c.  135 

Mhich  time  it  would  submit  one  to  scorn,  if  not  to  death 
as  a  fanatic,  merely  to  mention,  with  any  degree  of  reve- 
rence, the  name  of  God !  After  the  revolutionary  gov- 
ernment of  France,  for  the  space  of  13  years,  had  pass- 
ed in  rapid  succession  through  a  variety  of  forms,  Na- 
poleon Bonaparte,  a  general  of  its  armies,  forcibly  made 
himself  First  Consul  for  life,  August  2,  1802:  and,  on 
the  3d  of  December,  1804,  he  was  crowned  emperor  of 
France,  by  his  Holiness  the  Pope,  by  the  name  of  Na- 
poleon 1.  Napoleon  Bonaparte,  the  wonder  and  the 
scourge  of  the  world,  was  born  at  Calvi,  in  the  island  o 
Corsica,  August  15,  1769.  By  his  second  wife,  daugh- 
ter to  the  sovereign  of  Austria,  he  has  a  son.  His 
eldest  brother  is  Lucien  5  his  second  brother  is  Joseph  ; 
hL  third  brother  is  Louis  ;  and  his  youngest  is  Jerome. 
The  deeds  of  Napoleon  Bonaparte  are  recorded  to  ever- 
lasting ages  by  the  Angel  of  Death, 

FRANCE,  ISLE  of,  an  island  in  the  Indian  Ocean,  one 
hundred  and  fifty  mites  in  circumference.  It  is  owned 
by  the  French  5  and  lies  400  miles  east  of.  the  island  of 
Madagascar ;  whence  they  bring  theif  slaves  to  the  Isle 
of  France,  and  have  to  the  number  of  twelve  thousand. 
These  black  slaves,  says  St.  Pierre,  cultivate  the  soil,  do 
all  the  drudgery,  and  are  treated  in  the  most  cruel  man- 
ner. In  desperation,  they  often  hang  or  drown  them- 
selves. More  frequently  they  fly  to  the  woods,  where 
they  are  hunted  and  shot,  like*  beasts,  by  parties  of  plea- 
sure, formed  for  the  purpose.  According  to  Dr.  Morse, 
the  wretched  slaves  torn  from  Madagascar  by  the 
French,  toil,  almost  naked,  with  an  iron  collar  fastened 
round  the  neck,  from  which  rise  plates  of  iron  forming 
a  mask  and  head-piece  ;  before  the  mouth  is  a  round 
plate  of  iron,  in  which  are  small  holes  to  emit  the 
breath  ;  there  is  a  place  for  the  nose;  a  flat  piece  of  iron 
passes  through  the  mouth,  as  a  bit  in  a  horse's  mouth. 
The  skin  is  soon  worn  from  the  mouth,  nose,  face,  and 
chin.  This  island  has  fallen  under  the  dominion  of 
Great  Britain. 

FRANKLINEA  ALL  AT  AH  AM  A,  a  flowering  tree, 
of  the  first  order  for  beauty  and  fragrance  of  blossoms  5 
growing  in  some  parts  of  Georgia  and  the  east  borders 


1*6  FRESHET— FRIGID  ZONES— FRISLANB. 

of  Florida.  This  tree  grows  fifteen  or  twenty  feet  high, 
branching  in  every  direction.  The  flowers  are  very 
large,  expand  themselves  perfectly,  are  of  a  snow-white 
colour,  and  ornamented  with  a  crown  or  tassel  of  gold 
coloured  glittering  stamina  in  their  centre.  These 
large  flowers  stand  single  in  the  bosom  of  the  leaves, 
'which  being  near  together  towards  the  extremities  of 
the  twigs  make  a  ga}r  appearance. — Bartram. 

FRESHET,  the  raising  of  the  waters  in  streams  and 
rivers,  most  commonly  in  the  spring,  by  the  melting  of 
the  snow  towards  their  sources  and  along  their  banks. 
If  the  snow  in  the  woods  and  mountains  be  dissolved 
gradually,  as  it  always  is  when  not  accelerated  by  a  hea- 
vy rain,  no  damage  is  done  by  the  rising  of  the  water  $ 
but  if  the  dissolution  of  the  snow  be  sudaen,  the  effects 
are  often  calamitous.  Some  of  the  rivers  of  New-Eng- 
land are  remarkable  for  high  and  sudden  freshets.  Saco 
riyer;  which  has  its  source  ig  the  state  of  New-Hamp- 
shire, has  risen  twenty -five  feet  in  a  great  freshet ;  its 
common  rise  is  ten  feet.  Pemigewasset,  another  river 
of  New-Hampshire,  has  also  been  known  to  rise  twen- 
ty-five feet.  Connecticut  river  in  a  common  freshet,  is 
ten  feet  higher  than  its  usual  summer  level ;  its  greatest 
elevation  does  not  exceed  twenty  kQt.--*Winterbotham. 

FRIGID  ZONES,  those  regions  round  the  poles 
\vhere  the  sun  does  not  rise  for  some  days  in  the  winter, 
nor  set  for  some  days  in  the  summer ;  extending  from 
each  pole  to  twenty-three  degrees  and  twenty-eight 
minutes.  Nothing  can  be  more  mournful  or  hideous 
than  the  picture  which  travellers  present  of  these 
wretched  regions.  The  ground,  which  is  rocky  and 
barren,  rears  itself,  in  every  place,  into  lofty  mountains 
and  inaccessible  cliffs,  -and  meets  the  mariner's  eye  at 
even  forty  leagues  from  shore.  These  precipices, 
frightful  in  themselves,  receive  an  additional  horror 
from  being  constantly  covered  with  ice  and  snow, 
which  daily  seem  to  accumulate,  and  to  fill  all  the 
vullics  with  increasing  desolation.— Go Idsmith. 

FRISLAND,  formerly  a  very  large  island  (in  the  Af> 
^ntic  Ocean)  which  is  supposed  to  have  been  sunk  by 


FROST— FUNERAL-PILE.  137 

an  earthquake.  Frisland  was  seen  by  Martin -Frobisher 
in  each  of  his  three  voyages  to  and  From  Greenland  in 
the  years  1576,  1577,  and  1 578.  Frobisher  describes  it 
to  have  been  as  large  as  England,  the  southernmost  part 
of  it  lying  about  60  degrees  north  latitude,  and  as  being 
more  west  than  any  other  land  iir  Europe ;  and  inhabit- 
ed by  people  who  resembled  the  Greenlanders.  This 
great  tract  of  country  has  long  since  disappeared.  In  a 
map  prefixed  to  Crantz's  history  of  Greenland,  there  is 
marked  a  very  extensive  shoal  between  the  latitudes  of 
59°  and  80°,  called  «  the  sunken  lands  of  Buss."  Its 
longitude  is  between  Iceland  and  Greenland,  and  Crantz 
speaks  of  it  in  these  words.  "  Some  are  of  opinion  that 
4i  Frisland  was  sunk  by  an  earthquake  5  and  that  it  was 
"  situate  in  those  parts  where  the  sunken  land  of  Buss 
"  is  marked  in  the  maps  $  which  the  seamen  cautiously 
"  avoid,  because  of  the  shallow  ground  and  turbulent 
"  waves." — Belknap. 

FROST,  that  state  of  the  air  whereby  fluids  are  con- 
verted into  ice.  It  has  been  thought  by  many  that  frosts 
meliorate  the  ground,  and  that  they  are  in  general  salu- 
brious to  mankind.  In  respect  to  the  former,  it  is  now 
well  known  that  ice  or  snow  contains  no  nitrous  parti- 
cles, and  though  frost,  by  enlarging  the  bulk  of  moist 
clay,  leaves  it  softer  for  a  time  after  the  thaw,  yet  as 
soon  as  the  water  exhales,  the  clay  becomes  as  hard  as 
before,  being  pressed  together  by  the  incumbent  at- 
mosphere, and  by  its  attraction,  called  setting  by  the 
potters.  Add  to  this,  that  on  the  coasts  of  Africa,  where 
frost  is  unknown,  the  fertility  of  the  soil  is  almost  be- 
yond our  conceptions  of  it.— Darwin. 

FUNERAL-PILE,  a  pile  of  combustible  materials, 
erected  among  the  East-Indians  for  the  purpose  of  burn- 
ing their  dead.  The  inhuman  custom  of  women  burn- 
ing themselves  to  death  on  the  corpses  of  their  husbands 
is  not  vet  annihilated  in  India;  but  it  is  confined  to  the 
cast  or  the  Bramins.  When  an  individual  of  this  cast 
dies,  one  of  his  wives  is  bound,  (not  by  law?  but  by  cus« 
tor.-i)  to  exhibit  this  dreadful  proof  of  her  affection. 
Tliis  horrible  sacrifice,  as  exhibited  at  Bengal,  is  as  fel- 
lows. The  funeral -pile  of  the  husband  is  erected  near 


IS*  FUR. 

a  wall,  with  just  space  enough  between  for  a  single  per- 
son to  pass,  that  the  widow  may  walk,  as  is  the  custom, 
three  times  round  it.  A  hole  is  made  in  the  wall  at  the 
height  of  the  pile,  in  which  abeam,  of  more  than  twenty 
feet  in  length,  is  placed  with  a  rope  fastened  to  the 
and  of  it,  and  hanging  to  the  ground,  for  the  purpose 
of  making  it  move  backwards  and  forwards.  \Vhen  the 
widow  has  performed  her  ambalations,  and  taken  off 
her  jewels,  which  she  distributes  among  her  compan- 
ions, she  ascends  the  pile,  a-nd  lies  down,  embracing  the 
corijse  of  her  husband.  The  beam  is  then  put  in  motion, 
and  falls  upon  her  so  heavily  as  to  break  her  loins,  or 
deprive  her  at  least  of  the  power  of  moving.  The  pile- 
is  now  set  on  fire,  and  the  music  striking  up,  contri- 
butes, with  the  shouts  of  the  people,  to  drown  the  noise 
of  her  groans  :  and  she  is  thus  in  the  full  sense  of  the 
expression  burnt  alive,- — Grrandpre. 

FUR,  the  fine,  soft,  close  hair  of  certain  kinds  of  ani- 
mals. It  is  a  remarkable  ordination  of  Providence,  that 
warm  coats  of  fur  are  given  only  to  the  animals  of  the 
coldest  regions.  Furs  are  to  be  obtained  only  in  the 
northern  regions  of  Europe,  Asia,  and  America.  From 
Siberia  the  Russians  have  long  been  wont  to  send,  by 
annual  caravans,  to  Kiatcha  on  the  confines  of  China, 
vast  quantities  of  furs,  which  the  Chinese  there  pur- 
chase from  them  at  enormous  prices.  Canada  and  Hud- 
ton's  Bay  furnish  the  merchants  of  Britain  also  with 
great  quantities  of  furs,  which  they  partly  sell  in  Eu- 
rope and  partly  in  China.  The  quantity  of  furs  which 
can  be  procured,  is  always,  however,  exceedingly  une- 
qual to  the  demand  for  them.  A  fur-dress  is  not  favora- 
ble to  health  5  its  alkaline  and  oilv  particles  stimulate 
the  skin,  when  in  contact  with  it,  thus  partially  increase 
perspiration,  and  lay  the  foundation  of  colds  and  catarrhs. 
A  fur-dress  readily  attracts  infection,  and  soon  acquires 
an  intolerable  smell.  The  plague  ,.itself  is  said  to  be 
spread  among  the  Turks  chiefly  by  their  absurd  and 
cumbersome  dresses  lined  with  animal  hair. — Ptrouse, 
Domestic  JZr&yclvpcedia. 


GAMBIA—GANGES.  139 

G. 

IjTAMBIA,  a  deep  river  of  Africa,  which  empties 
into  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  between  thirteen  and  fourteen 
degrees  north  latitude,  and,  like  the  Nile,  overflows  its 
banks.  It  is  navigable  for  sloops  six  hundred  miles  up 
the  country  5  its  banks  are  planted  with  towns,  inhabit- 
ed by  various  nations  ;  it  abounds  with  crocodiles  and 
sharks,  and  here  also  resides  the  hippopotamos,  or  riv- 
er horse.  Mr.  Brue5  principal  factor  for  the  French 
African  Company,  in  an  account  of  a  voyage  he  made 
up  the  river  Gambia,  says,  that  he  was  surprised  to  see 
tke  land  so  well  cultivated  ;  scarce  a  spot  lay  unimprov- 
ed ;  the  low  lands,  divided  by  small  canals,  were  all 
sowed  with  rice  5  the  higher  ground  planted  with  mil- 
let, Indian  corn,  and  peas  of  different  sorts  $  their  beef 
excellent  $  poultry  plenty  and  very  cheap,  as  well  as 
all  other  necessaries  of  life. 

GANGES,  a  celebrated  river  of  Asia  :  more  than 
two  thousand  miles  in  length,  and  in  its  annual  inunda- 
tion, overflowing  the  country  to  the  extent  of  more  than 
a  hundred  miles  in  width.  The  tides  of  the  Ganges 
are  prodigiously  rapid.  The  channels,  which  the  stream 
of  this  river  has  formed  in  the  sand  banks  at  its  mouth, 
are  in  some  places  not  more  than  half  a  league  wide  ; 
in  entering  them,  during  the  south-west  monsoon,  the 
force  of  wind  and  tide  together  will  carry  a  vessel  at 
the  rate  of  six  leagues  an  hour :  in  this  state  a  single 
false  stroke  of  the  helm  will  throw  her  too  much  to  one 
side,  and,  by  losing  the  exact  direction  of  the  channel, 
expose  her  to  the  greatest  danger,  often  to  the  inevita- 
ble fate  of  being  wrecked.  The  Ganges,  dispensing 
fertility  in  its  progress,  and  affording  the  means  of  com- 
mercial intercourse,  has  obtained  the  adoration  of  the 
Hindoos,  or  Gentoos,  who  inhabit  its  banks ;  and  has  been 
worshipped  as  a  divinity  since  the  period  when,  accord- 
ing to  tradition,  Dourga  plunged  herself  into  it,  and 
disappeared.  They  relate  that  tkis  woman  was  their 
legislator,  that  in  her  old  age  she  descended  to  the  bot- 
tom of  the  Ganges,  and  still  lives  there.  Accordingly 
the  greatest  happiness  of  life  is  that  of  bathing  in  this 
river;  and  drinking  its  waters,  which  are  believed  to 


140  GAZETTE— GEORGIA. 

have  the  virtue  of  purifying  both  body  and  soul.  If 
they  happen  to  be  drowned  in  the  Ganges,  they  are  sure 
of  Paradise. — Ghrandpre. 

GAZETTE,  a  newspaper.  The  first  gazette  is  said 
to  have  been  printed  in  Italy,  at  Venice,  in  the  year 
1536  5  and  to  have  derived  its  name  from  the  name  of 
a  little  coin  called  gazetta,  which  was  the  common  price 
of  one  of  these  papers.  The  first  regular  gazette  pub- 
lished in  England  was  in  16229  entitled  "  The  certaine 
•hTeivs  of  the  present  Weeke."  The  first  gazette  in  France 
was  in  1631 ;  the  first  in  America  was  the  Boston  News- 
Letter,  commenced  at  Boston,  1704,  by  B.  Green  :  the 
first  in  Pennsylvania  was  in  1 719 ;  the  first  in  New-York 
was  in  1725 ;  the  first  in  Rhode -Island  was  in  1732 ;  the 
first  in  Connecticut  was  in  1755 ;  and  the  first  in  New- 
Hampshire  in  1756.  The  number  of  papers,  issu'ng  an- 
nually from  the  presses  in  Great  Britain  at  the  close  of 
the  18th  century,  are  computed  to  have  been  .consider- 
ably more  than  fifteen  million.  The  number  of  gazettes 
in  the  United  States,  at  the  beginning  of  the  19th  cen- 
tury, was  about  two  hundred  ;  and  the  number  of  pa- 
pers which  they  circulated  annually,  are  calculated  to 
be  twelve  or  thirteen  inillion.-+JMiuer. 

GEORGIA,  one  of  the  United  States  of  America  ; 
situated  between  30°  37'  and  35°  north  latitude  ;  ex- 
tending about  600  miles  in  length,  and  on  an  average 
250  iii  breadth  ;  bounded  by  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  by 
East  and  West  Florida,  by  the  river  Mississippi,  and  by 
North  and  South  Carolina,'  and  the  state  of  Tennessee, 
state  produces  rice  and  cotton  in  great  abundance. 
In  some  parts  of  the  state,  the  heat,  in  summer,  is  ex- 
cessive.    In  a  letter  from  Henry  Ellis,  Esq.  formerly 
governor  of  Georgia,  dated  at  Savannah,  July  17,  1758, 
lie  remarks,  "  I  think  it  is  highly  probable,  that  the  in- 
ants  of  this  place  breathe  a  notter  air  than  any  oth- 
er people  on  the  face  of  the  earth.     I  have  travelled  a 
•  part  of  this  globe,  not  without  giving  some  attcn- 
•  the  peculiarities  of  each  climate,  and  I  can  fair- 
'uce,  that  I  never  felt  such  heats  any  where  as 
iu  Georgia/' 


GEORGIA—  GERMANY.  141 

GEORGIA,  a  country  of  Asia,  between  the  Caspian 
and  Black  Sea  :  it  is  the  ancient  Colchis.  This  country 
(including  Circassia)  has  been  for  many  ages  a  nurs,- 
ery  for  slaves  ;  it  furnished  the  Greeks,  Romans,  and 
Asiatic  nations  with  them.  From  the  time  of  the  Mo- 
guls, (whose  empire  commenced  in  the  beginning  of 
the  15th  century.)  the  slave  trade  has  been  carried  on 
here  in  the  same  manner  as  it  is  carried  on  in  Africa, 
by  the  wars  among  the  numerous  tribes,  and  by  the 
misery  of  the  inhabitants,  who  sell  their  own  children 
for  a  subsistence.  Multitudes  of  these  slaves  are  car- 
ried to  Constantinople  and  to  Egypt*  We  read  in  Re- 
roditus,  that  the  ancient  Colchis*  (now  called  Georgia) 
received  slaves  from  Egypt  5  that  ?'s,  from  the  same 
country  into  which  they  now  sell  their  children.  What 
an  extraordinary  reverse  of  circumstances  l**~ 


GERMANY,  a  large  country  of  Europe.  Ancient 
Germany  included  the  north  of  France,  the  Netherlands, 
Denmark,  Poland,  part  of  Turkey  in  Europe,  and  of 
Muscovy,  or  Russia.  The  Romans  were  able  to  con- 
quer only  a  part  of  Germany.  The  Danube  was  the 
boundary  of  the  ancient  Roman  empire  5  for  though  tha 
emperor  Trajan,  at  the  beginning  of  the  second  centu- 
ry, conquered  Dacia,  which  was  situated  north  of  the 
Danube,  and  built  a  bridge  over  the  river,  yet  the  Ro- 
mans held  that  province  tor  no  long  time,  and  were  at 
last  compelled  to  destroy  the  bridge,  to  prevent  the  ir- 
ruptioBS  of  the  northern  barbarians.  This  country  was 
called  the  Northern  Hive  ;  for  thence  issued  numerous- 
swarms  of  warlike  and  barbarous  people,  called  Goths, 
Vandals,  and  Huns,  who  overthrew  the  western  Roman 
empire,  changed  the  face  of  the  civilized  parts  of  Eu- 
rope, and  laid  the  foundations  of  most  of  the  European 
monarchies  and  aristocracies  which  now  subsist.  Mod- 
ern Germany  is  six  hundred  miles  in  length  and  five 
hundred  and  twenty  in  breadth  ;  is  situated  between 
about  forty  -five  and  fifty  -five  degrees  of  nortlj  latitude; 
borders  upon  the.  German  Ocean,  Denmark,  the  Baltic 
Sea,  Poland,  Swisserland,  the  Alps,  the  Netherlands^ 
and  France  ;  and  is  computed  to  contain  about  twenty- 
eight  million  inhabitants.  Charlemagne,  or  Charles  the 
Great,  was  the  founder  of  the  German  empire}  in  tlm 


142  GIANT— GIBRALTAR. 

rear  800.  Beforfr  the  French  revolution  there  were  ia 
all  Germany,  about  two  hundred  independent  sove- 
reignties 5  all  confederated  under  one  common  head, 
namely?  the  Emperor. 

GIANT,  a  person  of  prodigious  stature  and  dinien- 
tions  of  body.  The  iron  bedstead  of  Og?  king  of  Ba- 
shan,  was  nine  cubits?  or  about  sixteen  feet.  Goli- 
ath, of  Gatlu  the  champion  of  the  Philistines,  measured 
six  cubits  and  a  span  ;  which,  according  to  Bishop 
Cumberland,  is  eleven  feet  English.  The  body  of  Ores- 
tes? according  to  the  Greeks?  was  eleven  feet  and  a  half. 
The  giant  Galbara?  brought  from  Arabia  to  Rome  un- 
der Claudius  Ceesar?  was  near  ten  feet.  Maximus,  the 
Roman  emperor,  was  nine  feet  high.  Dr.  Cheselden 
speaks  of  a  skeleton,  discovered  in  a  Roman  camp,  near 
St.  Albans,  in  England,  which  he  judged  to  have  been 
eight  feet  and  four  inches.  Byrne,  the  Irish  giant?  who 
died  since  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century,  mea- 
sured eight  feet  and  two  inches.  Edward  JVlalone,  an- 
other Irishman?  was  seven  feet  and  seven  inches  ;  and 
his  stature  and  size  were  exceeded  by  Daniel  Cordanus, 
a  Swede.  Patrick  O'Brien,  who  died  in  England,  1806, 
was  full  eight  feet  high. — Encyclopedia^  et  cet, 

GIBRALTAR,  a  famous  promontory,  or  rather  pen- 
insula of  Spain  ;  lying  in  latitude  35°  50'.  To  the 
ancients  it  was  known  by  the  name  of  Calpe,  and  was 
called  one  of  the  Pillars  of  Hercules:  it  faces  the  moun- 
tain of  Jibila,  on  the  African  shore,  which  is  the  other 
Pillar  of  Hercules.  These  two  eminences  were,  among 
the  ancients?  considered  as  the  limits  of  navigation  ; 
and  to  pass  them  and  enter  the  Atlantic  Ocean?  was 
thought  a  most  daring  adventure.  The  strait,  upon 
which  this  fortress  stands,  connects  the  Mediterranean 
with  the  Atlantic,  and  divides  Europe  from  Africa  ;  it 
is  twenty -four  miles  in  length,  and  fifteen  in  breadth. 
Through  this  strait  a  strong  current  always  runs  from 
the  Ocean  to  the  Mediterranean  Sea.  The  whole  prom- 
ontory, upon  the  summit  of  which  the  fortress  is  built, 
is  a  vast  rock?,  rising  perpendicularly  several  hundred 
feet,  measuring  from  norm  to  south  about  two  English 
miles,  but  not  above  one  in  breadth  from  east  to  west. 


GINGER-ROOT—GIN-SENG.  1 43 

Nature  and  art  have  done  every  thing  to  render  it  as 
strong  as  possible.  Gibraltar  was  captured  from  Spain, 
in  1704,  and  has  ever  since  been  held  by  the  British 
crown.  Although  this  impregnable  fortress  is  the  key 
of  the  Mediterranean,  it  has  been  the  opinion  of  some, 
particularly  of  Adam  Smith,  that  its  capture  and  deten- 
tion have  been  injurious  to  the  interest  of  Great  Brit- 
ain, by  occasioning  an  implacable  enmity  in  the  minds 
of  the  Spaniards,  who  otherwise  might  have  been  among 
the  number  of  England's  most  profitable  commercial 
customers,  That  enmity  is  now  done  away,  by  the  ef- 
fectual assistance  given  by  Great  Britain  to  Spain,  dur- 
ing her  noble  struggles  for  independence. 

GINGER-ROOT,  an  aromatic  root  that  grows  plen- 
tifully in  the  West-Indies,  and  is  ground  into  ginger- 
flour.  In  the  cultivation  of  this  root  no  greater  skill  or 
care  is  required  than  in  the  propagation  of  potatoes, 
and  it  is  planted  much  in  the  same  manner.  When 
ripe  it  is  dug  and  exposed  to  a  hot  sun  for  drying. — 
These  roots,  taken  up  while  their  fibres  are  tender  and 
full  of  sap,  make  an  admirable  sweetmeat.— -Bryan  Ed- 
wards. 

GIN-SENG,  a  valuable  plant  that  grows  spontane- 
ously in  China,  and  in  some  parts  of  the  United  States. 
The  root  of  Gin-seng  is  white  and  rough  ;  its  stem  is 
smooth  and  very  round,  and  of  a  deep  red  colour.  Its 
height  is  various,  according  to  the  vigor  of  the  plant. 
From  the  extremity  of  the  stalk  proceeds  a  number  of 
branches,  equally  distant  one  from  the  other,  and,  in 
their  growth,  never  deviating  from  the  same  plan. 
Each  branch  bears  five  small  leaves  full  of  fibres,  the 
upper  parts  of  which  are  of  a  dark  green,  and  the  low- 
er of  a  shining  whitish  green.  This  plant  decays  and 
springs  up  every  year.  It  is  the  most  esteemed  of  ail 
the  plants  of  China  ;  where  it  is  found  on  the  declivi- 
ties of  mountains,  between  the  thirty-ninth  and  forty- 
seventh  degrees  of  north  latitude.  Gin-seng  was  for- 
merly thought  to  be  a  plant  indigenous  only  to  China 
and  Tartary.  In  1720,  it  was  discovered  by  the  Jesuit 
Lasiton,  in  the  forests  of  Canada;  and  in  1750  it  was 
found  in  the  western  parts  $f  New-England,  It  grows 


144         GLACIERS—GLUTTON—  .GNAT, 

in  great  plenty  in  Vermont,  and  has  been  a  valuable  ar- 
ticle of  exportation  ;  but  its  sale  lias  been  injured  by 
an  injudicious  method  of  collecting,  curing,  and  pack- 
ing it.  —  Wlnterbotham^  Williams. 

GLACIERS,  extensive  fields  of  ice  among  the  Alps 
of  Swisserland.  Some  stretch  several  leagues  in 
length  :  that  of  des  Bois,  in  particular,  is  more  than  fif- 
teen miles  long;  and  above  three  in  its  greatest  breadth. 
The  thickness  of  the  ice  varies  in  different  parts.  M. 
tie  Saussure  found  its  general  depth  in  the  glaciers  des 
Bois  from  eighty  to  a  hundred  feet  ;  but  questions  not 
the  information  of  those  who  assert,  that,  in  some 
places,  its  thickness  exceeds  even  six  hundred  feet. 
These  fields  of  ice  are  intersected  by  chasms,  which 
the  traveller  crosses  on  foot  with  much  difficulty.  — 
Morse. 

GLUTTON,  an  animal  of  the  weasel  kind,  which 
takes  its  name  from  its  voracious  appetite  ;  it  is  found 
in  the  north  of  Europe  and  Siberia,  and  in  the  northern 
parts  of  America,  where  it  is  called  Carcajou.  The 
body  is  thick  aiid  long  $  the  legs  short,  with  sharp 
claws  ;  its  fur  is  held  in  high  estimation,  for  its  soft- 
ness and  beautiful  gloss.  This  voracious  animal  is  seen 
lurking  among  the  branches  of  trees  in  the  forests  oi 
North  America,  in  order  to  spring  down  and  seize  up- 
on deer  that  happen  to  pass  along  underneath.  When- 
ever an  opportunity  offers,  it  darts  down  upon  the  moose 
or  deer,  sticks  its  claws  between  the  shoulders,  and 
notwithstanding  the  violent  efforts  of  its  victim,  remains 
there  unalterably  fixed,  eating  its  neck,  ond  digging  its 
passage  to  the  great  blood  vessels  that  lie  in  that  part. 


GNAT,  an  insect  fly  that  feasts  on  blood,  and  is  the 
expertest  phlebotomist  in  nature.  The  Gnat  is  furnish- 
ed with  a  proboscis,  which  is  at  once  an  awl  proper  for 
piercing  the  flesh  of  animals,  and  a  pump  by  which  it 
sucks  out  their  blood.  This  proboscis  contains,  besides, 
a  long  saw,  with  which  it  opens  the  small  blood  vessels 
at  the  bottom  of  the  wound  which  it  has  made.  He  is 
likewise  provided  with  a  corslet  of  eyes  studded  round 


GOA.  145 

luji  little  head,  to  see  all  the  objects  around  him  in  every 
direction  :  talons  so  sharp,  that  he  can  walk  on  polished 
glass,  in  a  perpendicular  line  $  feet  supplied  with  brash- 
es to  clean  himself;  a  plume  of  feathers  on  his  fore- 
head ;  and  an  instrument  answering  the  purpose  of  a 
trumpet,  to  proclaim  his  triumphs. — St.  Pierre. 

GOA,  a  small  island  and  city,  the  capital  of  the  Por- 
tuguese settlements  in  the  East- Indies.  It  is  the  only 
place  known  in  the  world,  where  the  popish  court  of 
inquisition  still  remains  the  reign  of  terror,  as  in  for- 
mer ages.  This  horrible  court  has  existed  here  about 
three  centuries ;  and  no  person,  not  even  the  vice-roy 
of  Goa,  is  exempt  from  its  jurisdiction.  The  inquisi- 
tors are  priests,  clothed  in  black  robes  when  they  are 
going  to  sit  upon  the  tribunal  of  the  Holy  Office  5  their 
usual  dress  being  white.  The  accused  are  examined 
by  torture,  to  bring  them  to  make  confession  5  and  the 
shrieks  of  some  or  others  of  these  wretched  victims, 
may  be  heard  every  morning,  sometimes  for  months  to- 
gether. In  the  prison  of  the  inquisition  are  two  hun- 
dred dungeons,  ten  feet  square ;  where  they  remain, 
Sometimes  for  years,  without  seeing  any  person  but  the 
jailer  who  brings  them  their  victuals.  But  not  so  with 
those  who  have  given  any  mortal  offence  to  these  holy 
fathers :  they  are  condemned  to  the  flames,  both  men 
and  women.  Early  in  the  morning  of  the  day  of  their 
execution,  the  great  bell  of  the  cathedral  begins  to  ring, 
to  give  warning  of  the  Jluto  da  Fe,  or  Jlct  of  Faith  ;  the 
name  they  give  to  the  ceremony  of  burning  heretics. 
Soon  after  the  bars  are  removed  from  the  prison-doors 
of  the  victims.  They  are  taken  out  of  their  dungeons, 
.and  clothed  with  a  robe  of  grey  cloth,  upon  which  their 
own  portraits  are  painted,  and  placed  upon  burning 
torches  surrounded  with  demons.  Upon  their  heads 
are  fixed  pasteboard  caps,  painted  like  sugar-loaves, 
and  all  covered  over  with  devils  and  flames  of  fire. 
Thus  attired,  they  are  made  to  march  in  procession, 
barefoot,  through  the  streets  of  Goa,  to  a  church ;  where 
a  monk  delivers  a  sermon  on  the  occasion.  This  ser- 
vice being  over,  their  sentences  are  read  to  them.  They 
then  receive  each  a  slight  blow  upon  the  breast,  from 
sin  officer  of  the  inquisition,  called  the  Mcaide  /  as  a  to- 


146  GOLD—GOLD  COAST. 

ken  that  the  church  had  abandoned  them.  Upon  whicli 
an  officer  of  the  secular  tribunal  instantly  steps  for- 
ward, seizes  them,  and  leads  them  to  the  stake ;  where 
the  faggots  are  already  prepared.  Of  late  years  the 
celebration  of  the  Jluto  da  Fe  at  Goa,  is  private,  within 
the  walls  of  the  inquisition ;  a  circumstance  which  in- 
creases rather  than  lessens  the  terrors  of  that  abomina- 
ble tribunal.- — Buchanan.,  Dellon. 

GOLD,  a  precious  metal,  and  the  heaviest  of  all  met- 
tals,  platina  excepted :  it  is  of  a  bright  yellow  colour 
when  pure,  but  becomes  more  or  less  pale,  in  propor- 
tion as  it  is  alloyed  with  other  metals.  Gold  is  so  duc- 
tile, that,  as  Wallerius  asserts,  a  single  grain  of  it  may 
be  stretched  in  such  a  manner  as  to  cover  five  hundred 
ells  of  wire.  Nor  is  its  malleability  inferior  to  its  duc- 
tility. Mr.  Boyle  says,  that  one  grain  and  a  half  of  gold 
may  be  beaten  into  fifty  leaves  of  one  inch  square, 
which  if  intersected  by  parallel  lines  drawn  at  right  an- 
gles to  each  other,  and  distant  only  the  hundredth  part 
of  an  inch  from  one  another,  will  produce  twenty-five 
millions  of  little  squares,  each  very  discernible  by  the 
naked  eye.  Gold  is  indestructible  by  the  common  ope- 
rations of  fire  :  when  exposed  to  the  strongest  heat  it 
loses  no  part  of  its  weight ;  it  is  incapable  of  rusting, 
and  combines  with  various  metals.  In  Europe  the  pro- 
portion between  gold  and  silver,  is  as  fourteen  or  fifteen 
to  one ;  whereas  in  China,  and  the  greater  part  of  the 
markets  of  India,  it  is  but  as  ten,  or  at  most,  as  twelve 
to  one ;  therefore  it  is  more  advantageous  to  carry  sil- 
ver thither  than  gold. — Encyclopaedia,  Jl.  Smith. 

GOLD  COAST,  a  maritime  country  of  Guinea,  in 
which  are  more  forts  and  factories  of  European  nations, 
than  in  any  other  part  of  the  coasts  of  Africa ;  the  whole 
gold  coast  extending  about  one  hundred  and  eighty 
miles  in  length.  Tne  negro  merchants  are  usually  very 
rich,  and  trade  with  the  Europeans  in  gold.  Some  wri- 
ters have  said  that  there  .are  gold  mines  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Mina,  on  the  gold  coast ;  others,  that  tho 
gold  is  rollei}  down  by  the  rivers  to  that  neighborhood  : 
.  both  may  be  true.  N  The  wealth  of  the  natives  enable,. 
a  to  gratify  their  taste  for  finery.  The  women  wc^.t 


GOLD  DUST— GOLDEN  VULTURE,    &c.  14f 

£old,  and  coral  chains  about  their  necks,  arms,  legs, 
and  waists.  They  cover  themselves  with  ornaments.— 
Walker,  Nennel. 

GOLD  DUST,  a  precious  article,  found  in  Africa^ 
particularly  in  the  country  of  Handing,  which  borders 
upon  the  river  Niger.  The  gold  of  Manding  is  never 
found  in  a  mine,  but  always  in  small  grains,  nearly  in  a 
pure  state,  from  the  size  of  a  pin's  head,  to  that  of  a 
pea,  scattered  through  a  large  body  of  sand  or  clay.  As 
soon  as  their  harvest  is  over  the  Mandingo  negroes  go 
in  search  of  gold  dust.  Some  gather  up  the  sands  at 
the  bottom  of  streams ;  others  dig  pits  in  the  earth, 
near  some  hill  which  has  been  previously  discovered  to 
contain  gold;  and  when  they  come  to  a  stratum  of  fine 
reddish  sand,  with  small  specks  therein,  they  are  gene- 
rally sure  to  find  gold  in  some  proportion  or  other.— 
The  men  gather  the  sand  into  large  calabashes,  and  the 
women  by  washing  it  several  times,  separate  the  pre- 
cious metal, — Park, 

GOLDEN  VULTURE,  a  bird  that  is  foremest  of 
the  vulture  kind,  and  is  in  many  respects  like  the  gold- 
en eagle,  but  is  larger  in  every  proportion.  From  the 
end  of  the  beak  to  that  of  the  tail,  it  is  four  feet  and  an 
half,  and  to  the  claws'  end,  forty-five  inches.  The 
feathers  are  black  on  the  back,  and  on  the  wings  and 
tail  of  a  yellowish  brown  :  their  sense  of  smelling  is 
amazingly  great.  In  Egypt,  this  bird  seems  to  be  of 
singular  service.  There  are  great  flocks  of  them  in 
the  neighborhood  of  Grand  Cairo,  which  no  person  is 
permitted  to  destroy.  The  service  they  render  the  in- 
habitants, is  the  devouring  of  the  carrion  and  filth  of 
that  great  city ;  which  might  otherwise  corrupt  the  air. 
They  are  commonly  seen  in  company  with  the  wild 
dogs  of  the  country,  tearing  a  carcase  very  deliberately 
together. — Goldsmith. 

GOOD  HOPE,  CAPE  of,  the  most  southerly  point  of 
the  continent  of  Africa,  lying  in  34°  29'  south  latitude  : 
inhabited  by  the  people  called  Hottentots.  This  Cape 
was  first  sailed  round,  in  the  year  1497,  by  Vasco  de 
Gama,  a  noble  Portuguese,  who  was  sent  out  by  Emau* 


148  GOTHS— GOURD. 

uel  I.  king  of  Portuga,,  \vith  a  fleet  of  four  ships,  in  or- 
der to  complete  the  passage  to  India  by  sea.  The 
Dutch  settlement  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  is  one  of 
the  most  considerable  of  the  colonies  which  the  Europe- 
ans have  established,  either  in  Africa  or  the  East-In- 
dies, and  is  peculiarly  fortunate  in  its  situation.  It  is 
the  half-way-house,  if  one  may  say  so,  between  Europe 
and  the  East-Indies,  at  which  almost  every  European 
ship  makes  some  stay  both  at  going  and  returning.  The 
supplying  of  those  ships  with  almost  every  sort  of  fresh 
provisions,  with  fruit,  and  sometimes  with  wine,  affords 
alone  a  very  extensive  market  for  the  surplus  produce 
of  the  colonists.  [The  Cape  of  Good  Hope  is  now  held 
by  the  British  government.] — Mam  Smith. 

GOTHS,  a  people  of  ancient  Germany,  north  of  the 
Danube,  who  conquered  the  western  Roman  Empire, 
in  the  fifth  century,  and  demolished  the  whole  fabric  of 
literature  and  civil  institutions.  Those  fierce  and  bar- 
barous tribes  were  inspired  with  invincible  courage  and 
promoted  to  deeds  of  carnage  by  the  genius  ot  their 
religion.  An  opinion  was  fixed  and  general  among 
them,  that  death  was  but  the  entrance  into  another  life  ; 
that  all  men  who  lived  lazy  and  inactive  lives,  and  died 
natural  deaths,  by  sickness  or  by  age,  went  into  vast 
caves  under  ground,  all  dark  and  miry,  full  of  noisome 
creatures  usual  to  such  places,  and  there  forever  grov- 
elled in  endless  stench  and  misery.  On  the  contrary, 
all  who  gave  themselves  to  warlike  actions  and  enter- 
prises, to  the  conquest  of  their  neighbors  and  the 
slaughter  of  their  enemies,  and  died  in  battle,  or  of  vio- 
lent deaths  upon  bold  adventures  or  resolutions,  went 
immediately  to  the  vast  hall  or  palace  of  Odin,  their 
god  of  war,  who  eternally  kept  open  house  for  all  such 
guests,  where  they  were  entertained  at  infinite  tables, 
in  perpetual  feasts  and  mirth,  carousing  in  bowls  made 
of  the  skulls  of  their  enemies  they  had  slain  :  according 
to  the  number  of  whom,  every  one  in  those  mansions 
of  pleasure  was  the  most  honoured  and  the  best  enter- 
tained.— Sir  William  Temple. 

GOURD,  k  plant  or  vegetable.  Iti  the  Sandwich 
J*.1ands,  gourds  are  applied  to  various  domestic  (wv- 


GRAND  CANAL—GREEKS.  149 

poses.  They  grow  to  such  an  enormous  magnitude, 
that  some  of  them  will  contain  from  ten  to  a  dozen  gal- 
lons. In  order  to  adapt  them  the  better  to  their  re- 
,spective  uses,  they  take  care  to  give  them  different 
shapes,  by  fastening  bandages  round  them  during  their 
growth.  "Thus,  some  of  them  are  in  the  form  of  a  dish, 
serving  to  hold  their  puddings,  vegetables,  salted  pro- 
visions, &c.  Others  are  of  a  long  cylindrical  form,  and 
serve  to  contain  their  fishing  tackle  5  each  of  these  two 
sorts  being  furnished  with  close  covers,  made  also  of 
the  shell  of  the  gourd.  Others  are  in  the  shape  of  a 
long  necked  bottle  ;  and  in  these  water  is  kept.  They 
frequently  score  them  with  a  heated  instrument,  so  as 
to  communicate  to  them  the  appearance  of  being  paint- 
ed, in  a  great  variety  of  elegant  designs. — Cookers 
Voyages. 

GRAND  CANAL,  or  Languedoc  Canal,  a  famous 
canal  in  France,  which  opens  a  communication  between 
the  Mediterranean  Sea  and  the  Atlantic  Ocean ;  and 
was  made  by  Lewis  XIV.  This  canal,  which  was  be- 
gun in  the  year  1666,  and  finished  in  1680,  was  carried 
over  hills  and  valiies,  and  in  one  place  through  a  moun- 
tain. It  begins  with  a  large  reservoir,  four  hundred 
paces  in  circumference  and  twenty -four  feet  deep,  which 
receives  many  springs  from  the  mountain  Noire.  This 
canal  is  about  sixty-four  leagues  in  length,  is  supplied 
by  a  number  of  rivulets  and  is  furnished  with  a  hundred 
and  four  locks,  with  about  eight  feet  rise  each.  In 
some  places  it  passes  over  bridges  of  vast  height;  and 
in  others  it  cuts  through  solid  rocks  for  a  thousand  pa- 
ces. When  that  great  work,  which  had  cost  the  king 
of  France  prodigious  sums  of  money,  was  finished,  the 
most  likely  method,  it  was  found,  of  keeping  it  in  con- 
stant repair,  was  to  make  a  present  of  the  tolls,  in  per- 
petuity, to  Mr.  Piquet,  the  engineer,  who  had  planned 
and  conducted  the  work.  Those  tolls  constitute  a  very 
large  estate  to  the  different  branches  of  the  family  of 
that  gentleman. — Mam  Smith,  et  cet. 

GREEKS,  or  Grecians,  a  people  who  inhabited  the 
country,  in  Europe,  that  borders  on  the  Mediterranean 
Sea,  the  Adriatic;  and  the  Archipelago  $  and  whose  tei> 
0  2 


15i  GREENLAND. 

ritory  (exclusive  of  a  number  of  islands)  was  about  four 
hundred  miles  both  in  length  and  breadth  ;  situated  be- 
tween thirty-six  and  forty -four  degrees  north  latitude. 
The  Greeks  derived  their  origin  from  the  Egyptians 
and  Phoenicians.  In  the  year  1556  before  our  Saviour's 
nativity,  and  fifteen  years  after  the  birth  of  Moses,  Ce- 
crops  brought  a  colony  of  people  from  Egypt  into  Atti- 
ea,  and  began  the  kingdom  of  Athens  in  Greece.  Lite- 
rature dawned  in  Greece  more  than  a  fhousand  years 
earlier  than  in  the  other  parts  of  Europe.  The  Gre- 
cians received  the  letters  of  the  alphabet,  from  Cadmus, 
two  years  before  the  departure  of  the  Israelites  out  of 
Egypt :  they  were  also  among  the  first  of  the  Europe- 
ans who  were  enlightened  by  the  gospel,  which  was 
preached  among  them  by  Paul  and  Timothy.  No  peo- 
ple ever  had  so  great  a  thirst  for  learning,  or  carried 
the  fine  arts  to  so  great  perfection,  as  the  Grecians. — • 
All  the  Roman  learning  was  derived  from  Greece  $ 
which,  being  conquered  by  the  Remans,  about  a  hun- 
ilred  and  forty  years  before  the  Christian  era,  spread 
the  arts  and  sciences  among  its  conquerors ;  who  dif- 
fused them  among  the  'other  nations  of  Europe,  which 
were  subjected  to  their  power.  Thus,  the  arts  and  sci- 
ences travelled  from  Egypt,  their  fountain  head,  to 
Greece  5  from  Greece  te  Jiome  5  and  from  Rome,  among 
the  conquered  and  tributary  nations  of  the  Roman  em- 
pire. The  descendants  of  the  ancient  Greeks,  having 
oeen  long  and  horribly  oppressed  by  the  Turks,  are 
now  as  remarkable  for  ignorance  and  servility,  as  their 
ancestors  were  for  brilliancy  of  genius  and  a  love  of 
liberty. 

GREENLAND.  East  find  West  Greenland,  (sup- 
posed  to  be  one  continued  body  of.  land  ;  West  Green- 
land being  the  most  easterly  part  of  America,)  extend* 
from  about  sixty  -three  degrees  n^rth  latitude  towards 
the  north  pole.  The  whole  coast  is  surrounded  with 
prodigious  mountains  of  ice,  which  reflect  a  multitude 
of  colours,  and  exhibit  a  most  dazzling  appearance.  In 
the  year  889,  a  part  of  this  country  was  discovered  by 
some  Danish  adventurers ;  and,  under  the  conduct  of 
Eric  Rauh,  or  Redhead,  a  Danish  chief,  it  was  soon  peo- 
pled :  it  still  belongs  to  the  crown  of  Denmark,  The 


$REEN  MOUNTAINS—GREEN  TURTLE.     151 

inhabitants  of  this  most  wretched  country  pride  them- 
selves in  their  superiority  to  other  nations.  Grantz  as^ 
sures  us,  that  when  the  Greenland ers  are  met  together, 
nothing  is  so  customary  among  them  as  to  turn  the 
(southern)  Europeans  into  ridicule.  They  count  them- 
selves the  only  civilized  and  well  bred  people  in  the 
world  ;  and  it  is  common  with  them,  when  they  see  a 
modest  stranger,  to  say,  that  he  is  almost  as  well  bred 
as  a  Greenlander.  During  winter,  they  are  confined  by 
the  weather  in  large  cabins,  composed  of  earth  and 
stones,  and  the  top  secured  with  turf.  Along  the  sides 
of  the  cabins  are  several  partitions,  in  each  of  which  a 
Greenlander  lives  with  his  family.  Each  of  these  fam- 
ilies has  a  small  lamp  continually  burning  before  them, 
to  give  them  light ;  the  sun  not  appearing  for  several 
months  together,  and  the  ground  being  covered  with 
snow  of  a  prodigious  depth.  In  this  manner  these  con- 
tented people  pass  away  the  long  and  sunless  winters  ; 
living  on  smoked  fish,  and  the  dried  flesh  of  bears,  and 
wrapping  their  limbs  in  warm  furs. — Belknap,  Gold- 
smith, Day. 

GREEN  MOUNTAINS,  a  range  of  mountains,  ex- 
tending through  the  whole  tract  of  country  which  lie* 
between  the  west  side  of  Connecticut  river,  and  the  east 
side  of  Hudson's  river  and  lake  Cham  plain.  These 
mountains  begin  in  the  province  of  Canada :  thence  they 
extend  through  the  states  of  Vermont,  Massachusetts, 
and  Connecticut,  and  terminate  within  a  few  miles  of  the 
sea  coast.  Their  general  direction  is  from  north  north- 
east to  south  south-west ;  and  their  extent  is  through  a 
country,  not  less  than  four  hundred  miles  in  length. — 

Williams. 

• 

GREEN  TURTLE,  the  most  noted  and  the  most 
valuable  of  all  animals  of  the  tortoise  kind  ;  by  reason 
of  the  delicacy  of  its  flesh  and  its  nutritive  qualities,  to- 
gether with  the  property  of  being  easily  digested.  This 
animal,  which  is  found  in  great  abundance  on  the  coasts 
of  Jamaica  and  some  other  West-India  islands,  is  called 
the  green  turtle  from  the  colour  of  its  skin,  which  is 
rather  greener  than  that  of  others  of  the  tortoise  kind. 
It  is  generally  fonnd  to  weigh  about  two  hundred  j 


152     GREY  SQUIRREL— GROVE— GUANA. 

though  some  are  five  hundred,  and  others  not  above  fif- 
ty. Dampier  tells  us,  of  one  that  was  seen  at  Port 
Royal,  in  Jamaica,  that  was  six  feet  across  the  back ;  arid 
that  the  son  of  captain  Roach,  a  boy  about  ten  years  old, 
sailed  in  the  shell,  as  in  a  boat,  from  the  shore  to  his 
father's  ship,  which  was  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  from 
land. — Goldsmith. 

GREY  SQUIRREL,  a  well  known  animal  that  is 
found  all  along  the  continent  of  America,  from  New- 
England  to  Chili  and  Peru.  They  make  a  nest  of  moss 
in  a  hollow  tree,  and  here  they  deposit  their  provisions 
of  nuts  and  acorns  5  this  is  their  place  of  residence 
during  winter,  and  here  they  bring  forth  their  young. 
Their  summer-house,  which  is  built  of  sticks  and  leaves, 
is  placed  near  the  top  of  the  tree.  They  sometimes 
migrate  in  considerable  numbers  :  if  in  their  course  they 
meet  with  a  river,  each  of  them  takes  a  piece  of  bark, 
and  carries  it  to  the  water ;  thus  equipped,  they  embark, 
and  spread  their  tails  to  the  ^gentle  breeze,  which  soon 
wafts  them  over  in  safety. —  JFinterbotkam. 

GROVE,  a  walk  formed  by  trees,  whose  branches 
meet  above.  In  the  patriarchal  ages  groves  wrere  plant- 
ed for  places  of  devotion  and  religious  worship.  Abra- 
ham planted  a  grove  in  Bersheba,  and  called  on  the 
name  of  the  Lord,  the  everlasting  God.  In  process  of 
time,  however,  the  practice  of  worshipping  in  groves 
was  corrupted  into  a  species  of  idolatry ;  forasmuch  as 
it  was  imagined  that  green  trees  were  inhabited  by 
genii,  or  a  kind  of  demi-gods.  For  this  reason  the  chil- 
dren of  Israel  were  commanded  in  their  laws,  not  only 
to  destroy  all  the  graven  images,  but  also  to  cut^own 
all  the  groves  that  were  used  in  religious  worship.  Vir- 
gil in  his  Georgics  tells  us,  that  the  Grecians  believed 
oak  trees  to  be  oracles  :  and  this  notion  spread  from 
Greece  into  Germany  and  Britain  5  where  the  Druids, 
who  were  the  ancient  priests  of  those  countries,  per- 
formed their  worship  in  groves,  and  paid  religious 
homage  to  green  trees,  particularly  the  oaK. 

GUANA,  a  species  of  lizard,  that  is  worshipped  as  a 
god  by  the  Negroes  of  Benin,  who  are  called,  in  the 


GUANCIIES—GUINEA.  153 

West-Indies,  Eboes :  in  the  worship  of  this  animal  they 
frequently  offer  up  human  sacrifices.  In  the  year  1787, 
two  of  the  seamen  of  a  Liverpool  ship,  being  ashore 
watering,  had  the  misfortune  to  kill  a  Guana,  as  they 
were  rolling  a  cask  to  the  beach.  An  outcry  was  im- 
mediately raised  by  the  natives  ;  the  boat?s  crew  were 
seized,  carried  to  the  negro  king,  and  condemned  to  die : 
their  release,. ho wever,  was  offered  for  a  present  of  one 
hundred  and  seventy -five  pounds  sterling  ;  which  the 
captain  refused  to  pay,  and  inhumanly  left  them  to  their 
fate. — Bryan  Edwards. 

GUANCHES,  the  skeletons,  covered  with  skin,  of 
the  original  inhabitants  of  the  Canary  Islands.  The 
body  of  the  guancho  was  deposited  in  a  cavity  adapted 
to  its  size,  hewn  out  of  a  rock.  The  stone  being  of  a 
porous  nature,  the  animal  juices  were  absorbed,  or  fil- 
tered through,  and  the  solid  parts,  with  their  natural 
skinny  mantle,  became  indurated  by  a  process  of  natu- 
ral embalming,  to  such  a  degree  as  to  resist  the  future 
assaults  of  time.  They  are  still  exhibited  by  the  native^ 
of  those  islands,  with  emotions  of  pride  and\Teneration  : 
as  the  images  of  their  illustrious  ancestors  were  osten- 
tatiously displayed  by  the  patrician  families  of  Rome. 
Avarice  has,  however,  infected  the  Canaries,  as  well  as 
more  enlightened  islands  ;  and  families  have  been  pre- 
vailed on  to  part  with  their  guanches  to  the  museums 
of  European  collectors  of  curiosities,  for  a  little  ready 
money. — St.  Pierre. 

GUINEA,  a  large  district  of  country  in  the  western 
parts  of  Africa,  bordering  on  the  Atlantic.  This  is  re- 
presented as  being  a  most  charming  country  ;  and  the 
inhabitants  are  reported  to  be  good  natured,  sociable 
and  hospitable.  Here  the  negroes  live  on  the  sponta- 
neous productions  of  the  earth,  without  labor  and  with- 
out care,  reclining  in  ease  and  indolence  under  the  shade 
of  their  spreading  trees.  The  barbarous  slave-trade  has 
drenched  this  terrestrial  paradise  in  tears  and  blood. 
From  this  delightful  land,  says  Dr.  Morse,  it  is  supposed 
one  hundred  thousand  slaves  are  annually  exported  to 
the  different  countries  of  Europe  and  America.  Thou- 
sands are  slaughtered  on  their  native  shore ;  thousands 


154          GUINEA  PIG—GULF  STREAM. 

perish  on  the  voyage.  Guinea  is  divided  into  the  Low- 
er and  Upper  :  the  lower  Guinea  is  commonly  called 
Congo. 

GUINEA  PIG,  an  animal  of  the  hare  kind,  resem- 
bling a  rabbit,  but  is  less  in  size.  It  is  a  native  of  the 
warmer  climates,  but  has  long  been  rendered  domestic 
over  the  world  :  in  some  places  it  is  considered  the 
principal  favorite,  and  is  often  found  even  to  displace 
the  lap-dog.  Its  colours  are  different ;  some  are  white, 
some  are  red,  and  others  both  red  and  white.  The 
male  and  the  female  are  never  seen  both  asleep  at  the 
same  time  :  but  while  he  enjoys  his  repose,  she  remains 
on  the  watch,  silently  continuing  to  guard  him,  and  her 
head  turned  toward  the  place  where  he  lies.  When  she 
supposes  he  has  had  his  turn,  she  then  wakes  him  with 
a  kind  of  a  murmuring  noise,  goes  to  him,  forces  him 
from  his  bed,  and  lies  down  in  his  place.  He  then  per- 
forms the  same  good  turn  for  her  ;  and  continues  watchr 
ing  till  she  also  has  done  sleeping. — Goldsmith. 

GULF  STREAM,  a  rapid  current,  passing  from  the 
Gulf  of  Florida  to  the  north-east,  along  the  coast  of 
North  America.  A  chart  of  this  stream  was  published 
by  Dr.  Franklin  in  1 768,  from  the  information  princi- 
pally of  captain  Folger.  This  was  confirmed  by  the 
ingenious  experiments  of  Dr.  Blagden,  published  in 
1781 $  who  found  that  the  water  of  the  Gulf  Stream  was 
from  six  to  eleven  degrees  warmer  than  the  water  of 
the  sea  through  which  it  ran  5  which  must  have  been 
occasioned  by  its  being  brought  from  a  hotter  climate. 
He  ascribes  the  origin  of  this  current  to  the  power  of 
the  trade  winds,  which  blowing  always  in  the  same  di- 
rection, carry  the  waters  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean  to  the 
westward,  till  they  are  stopped  by  the  opposing  conti- 
nent on  the  west  of  the  Gulf  of  "Mexico,  and  are  thug 
accumulated  there,  and  turn  down  the  Gulf  of  Florida. 
It  is  the  opinion  of  some  learned  men,  that  in  process  of 
time  the  narrow  tract  of  land  on  the  west  of  the  Gulf 
of  Mexico,  may  be  worn  away  by  this  elevation  of  wa- 
ter dashing  .against  it  ;  by  which  means  this  immense 
current  would  cease  to  e*xist,  and  a  wonderful  change 
take  place  iu  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  and  the  West-India 


GULL—GUM  TREE— GUN-POWDER.      155 

islands,  by  the  subsiding  of  the  sea,  which  might  proba- 
bly lay  all  those  islands  into  one,  or  join  them  to  the 
continent. — Phil.  Trans. 

GULL,  a  sea  fowl,  remarkable  for  being  easily  de- 
ceived and  caught.  At  Well  fleet,  on  Cape  Cod,  (ac- 
cording to  Dr.  Morse)  they  have  gull-houses,  built  with 
crotches  fixed  in. the  ground  on  the  beach,  and  covered 
with  poles  ;  the  sides  are  thatched  with  sea-weed  ;  and 
over  the  poles  on  the  top  are  spread  flakes  of  lean  whale. 
The  gull-catcher  takes  his  station  within  side,  and  while 
the  simple  fowls  are  greedily  swallowing  the  bait,  he? 
unobserved,  draws  them  in  one  by  one  between  the 
poles,  until  he  has  collected  forty  or  fifty.  In  the  Amer- 
ican Museum,  it  is  mentioned  as  a  fact,  that  a  gentle- 
man, having  caught  a  sea  gull,  and  tamed  him — this 
gull,  though  fondly  attached  to  the  house  and  family, 
would  frequently  associate  with  the  wild  gulls  on  the 
beach  ;  that  when  they  left  the  country,  he  accompani- 
ed them,  and  returned  with  them  the  next  season,  and 
visited  the  house  with  as  much  apparent  affection  as 
ever  ;  that  he  annually  continued  his  migrations  and 
his  friendly  visits  to  the  family  on  his  return,  for  forty 
years  5  when  he  departed  and  never  returned  again. 
» 

GUM  TREE,  the  tree  that  produces  the  substance 
called  Gum  Arabic,  though  not  properly  so  called  5  as 
the  best  kind  of  it  is  not  produced  in  Arabia,  but  in 
Abyssinia,  a  part  of  Africa.  The  gum  tree  of  Arabia 
is  a  little,  short,  stunted  plant,  and  the  drops  of  gum 
which  it  yields  are  small  and  yellowish  5  whereas  the 
Abyssinia  gum  tree  is  large  and  flourishing,  and  pro- 
duces drops  in  abundance,  as  large  as  a  pigeon's  egg, 
and  as  transparent  as  crystal. — Grandpre. 

GUN-POWDER,  a  composition  of  saltpetre,  sul- 
phur, and  the  dust  of  charcoal.  This  wonderful  com- 
position is  said  to  have  been  invented  by  Bartholdus 
Schwarts,  a  monk  of  Cologne  in  Germany,  in  the  year 
1330.  It  was,  however,  plainly  described  in  the  works 
of  Roger  Bacon,  in  the  year  1216.  "  You  may  raise 
*•  thunder  and  lightning  at  pleasure,  (says  he)  by  only 


156  GfYMNOTUS—  -GYPSIES. 

"  taking  sulphur,  nitre,  and  charcoal,  which,  singly,  have 
'*  no  effect  ;  but  mixed  together,  and  confined  into  a 
66  close  place,  cause  an  explosion  greater  than  that  of  a 
"  clap  of  thunder."  The  permanently  elastic  fluid,  gen- 
erated in  the  firing  of  gun-powder,  is  calculated  by  Mr. 
Robbins  to  be  about  two  hundred  and  forty  -four,  if  the 
bulk  of  the  powder  be  one  ;  and  that  the  heat  generated 
fit  the  time  of  the  explosion,  occasions  the  rarified  air, 
thus  produced,  to  occupy  about  a  thousand  times  the 
space  of  the  gun-powder.  This  pressure  may  therefore 
be  called  equal  to  six  tons  upon  a  square  inch.  In  prov- 
ing gun-powder,  fill  a  thimble  with  the  powder  you  wish 
to  try  ;  pour  it  upon  dry  white  paper;  fire  the  little 
heap  with  a  burning  coal,  lightly  touching  the  powder. 
If  it  be  excellent,  every  grain  wilfinstantly  rise  in  smoke, 
only  leaving  on  the  paper  a  round  spot,  pearl  colour  : 
if  bad  it  burns  the  paper  ;  powder  of  a  middling  kind 
cither  burns  the  paper  a  little,  or  only  blackens  it.—  * 
Darwin,  Jim.  Jllus. 


GYMNOTUS,  an  electric  fish,  a  native  of  the  river 
Surinam,  in  South  America.  Those  which  were  brought 
over  to  England  were  about  three  or  four  feet  long,  and 
gave  an  electric  shock  by  putting  one  finger  on  the  back, 
and  another,  of  the  opposite  hand,  into  the  water,  near 
its  tail.  In  their  native  country  they  are  said  to  exceed 
twenty  feet  in  length.  It  is  not  only  to  escape  its  ene- 
mies that  this  electric  power  of  the  fish  is  used,  but  also 
to  take  its  prey  5  which  is  done  by  benumbing  them,  and 
then  devouring  them  before  they  have  time  to  recover, 
or  by  perfectly  killing  them  ;  for  the  quantity  of  the 
power  seems  'to  be  determined  by  the  will  or  anger  of 
the  animal,  as  it  sometimes  strides  a  fish  twice  before 
it  is  sufficiently  benumbed  to  be  easily  swallowed.— 
Darwin. 

GYPSIES,  idle  vagabonds  and  jugglers,  who  swarm 
over  Europe  and  Asia  ;  but  are  thought  to  have  had 
their  origin  in  Egypt.  Historians  inform  us  that  when 
8uitan  S'elim  conquered  Egypt,  in  the  year  1517,  some 
of  the  nativQS  refusing  to  submit  to  the  Turkish  yoke, 
were  banished  ;  and  they  agreed  to  disperse  in  small 
parties  over  the  world,  and  support  themselves  by  a  pre- 


&YFSUM.  15? 

'tended  skill  in  the  black  art.  Wherever  they  travelled 
they  gained  from  among  the  idle  and  vicious,  numerous 
proselytes,  who  imitated  their  language  and  manners, 
and  followed  their  practices.  Although  numbers  of  this 
singular  race  of  vagrants  are  seen  in  Egypt  and  various 
parts  of  Asia,  their  chief  population  is  in  the  south- 
east parts  of  Europe  ;  and  the  whole  European  conti- 
nent is  computed  to  contain  more  than  seven  hundred 
thousand  of  them.  In  the  sixteenth  century,  they  were 
banished  from  England,  France,  and  Spain,  but  were 
never  entirely  expelled  ;  nor  did  persecution  seem  to 
diminish  their  numbers  in  any  considerable  degree. 
Forty  thousand  of  these  strollers  are  supposed  to  be  in 
Spain  at  the  present  time  ;  and  a  greater  number  still  in 
Italy.  Their  complexion  is  swarthy,  their  dress  and  diet 
most  filthy,  their  language  a  strange  gibberish  peculiar 
to  themselves,  their  manners  shockingly  depraved  ;  nor 
do  they  ever  appear  to  pay  any  regard  either  to  the> 
Christian  or  to  the  Mahometan  religion.  They  gene- 
rally abhor  labor  :  some,  however,  are  tinkers,  others 
are  venders  of  wooden  ware  ;  the  women  are  fortune- 

ey 
ly 


.«    *  . 

they  are  very  iond,  to  their  own  profession.     For  nearly 

three  centuries  they  have  wandered  in  companies, 
through  the  world  5  and  their  singular  physiognomy  and 
particular  manners  have  been  the  same,  at  ail  times, 
and  in  every  country.  This  strange  race  is  humorously 
noticed  in  some  papers  of  Addisort's  Spectator. 

SUM,  a  substance  of  a  stony  nature,  yet  soft, 
and  easy  to  be  scraped  with  a  knife  :  it  is  found  in  many 
parts  of  the  earth  in  very  great  quantities,  forming  hills 
of  a  considerable  extent  ;  it  has  acquired  the  name  of 
Plaster  of  Paris,  from  its  abounding  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  tiiat  city.  The  great  advantages  of  gypsum,  as 
a  manure,  was  discovered  in  the  year  1768,  by  Mr. 
Mayer,  a  respectable  German  clergyman.  Since  that 
time  this  substance  has  been  used  with  much  success, 
not  only  in  Germany,  but  also  in  several  other  parts  of 
Europe  as  well  a«  in  America.  During  the  American 
revolutionary  war,  gypsum  >vas  discovered  ID  great  pisci* 


*58  HAIL. 

ty  on  lands  belonging  to  certain  refugees,  in  Nova-Sco- 
tia 5  arid  thence  it  is  annually  imported  into  the  United 
States.  In  the  state  of  New-York,  particularly  in  the 
•counties  of  Dutchess  and  Columbia,  some  lands  have 
been  doubled  and  even  trebled  in  value  by  the  use  of 
this  manure,  which  has  an  astonishing  effect  in  bringing 
i.n  clover,  and  thereby  preparing  the  ground  for  wheat. 


H. 

JO. AIL,  icy  balls,  of  various  figures  and  dimensions, 
formed  in  the  atmosphere,  but  in  a  manner  that  remains 
mysterious.  Some  philosophers  ascribe  the  formation 
of  hail  to  electricity.  Signior  Beccaria  supposed  hail  to 
be  formed  in  the  higher  regions  of  the  air,  where  the 
cold  is  intense ;  and  where  the  electric  matter  is  very 
copious.  In  these  circumstances  a  great  number  of  par- 
ticles of  water  are  brought  near  together,  where  they 
are  frozen,  and  in  their  descent  collect  other  particles, 
so  that  the  density  of  the  substance  of  the  hailstone 
grows  less  and  less  from  the  centre  5  the  central  part 
being  formed  first  in  the  higher  regions,  and  the  surface 
being  collected  in  the  lower  regions  of  the  air.  Agreea- 
ble to  this  theory,  it  is  found  that  on  the  tops  of  moun- 
tains hailstones  are  very  small,  and  continually  increase 
In  bulk  till  they  reach  the  lower  ground ;  also  that  the 
central  part  is  generally  harder  than  the  superfices.  In 
the  year  1697,  there  was  a  tremendous  hail-storm  in 
a  part  of  England,  attended  with  unusual  thunder  and 
lightning.  The  hailstones  which  poured  down  from  a 
black  cloud,  being  measured,  many  of  them  were  found 
to  be  fourteen  inches  round.  Mazeray  in  his  history  of 
France,  tells  us  of  a  shower  of  hail  much  more  terrible, 
which  happened  in  the  year  1510.  There  was,  for  a 
time,  a  horrible  darkness,  thicker  than  that  of  midnight, 
•which  continued  till  the  terrors- of  mankind  were  chang- 
ed to  still  more  terrible  objects,  by  thunder  and  light- 
ning breaking  through  the  gloom,  bringing  on  such 
a  shower  of  nail  as  scarcely  any  history  of  human  ca- 
lamjljes  could  equal.  'These  hailstones  were  of  a  bluish 


HARLEM— HARM  ATT  4Pf— HARMOXIC  DUEL-    153 

colour,  and  of  a  most  prodigious  size  5  some  of  them 
weighing  an  hundred  pounds.  A  noisome  vapor  of  sul- 
phur -attended  the  storm.  The  birds  and  beasts  of  the 
country  were  destroyed  ;  and  numbers  of  the  human 
race  suffered  the  same  fate. — Brit.  Encyclopaedia,  Gold- 
smith. 

HARLEM,  a  town  of  the  United  Provinces,  in  Hol- 
land. This  town  claims  the  invention  of  printing  ;  and 
in  fact  the  first  essays  of  the  art  are  indisputably  to 
be  attributed  to  Laurentius,  a  magistrate  of  that  city.  It 
was  from  Harlem  that  printing  was  first  introduced  in- 
to England.  Towards  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury, archbishop  Bouchier  persuaded  Henry  VI.  to  fur- 
nish- one  Mr.  Robert  Tumour  with  a  thousand  marks 
(toward  which  the  archbishop  himself  contributed  three 
hundred)  and  to  send  him  privately  to  Harlem,  in  com* 
pan}7"  with  a  Mr.  Caxton,  in  order  to  fetch  thence  the 
newly-invented  art  of  printing;  which  he  did  accor- 
dingly, by  bringing  over  to  England  Frederick  Corsel- 
les,  one  ot  the  expositors  at  Harlem. — Encyclopedia^ 
Bp.  Porteus. 

HARMATTAN,  a  singular  wind,  blowing  from  the 
interior  parts  of  Africa  to  the  Atlantic  Ocean ;  some- 
times for  a  few  hours,  sometimes  for  several  days,  with- 
out regular  periods.  It  is  always  attended  with  a  fog 
er  haze,  so  dense  as  to  render  those  objects  invisible, 
which  are  at  the  distance  of  a  quarter  of  a  mile ;  the  suit 
appears  through  it  only  about  noon,  and  then  of  a  thin 
red,  and  very  minute  particles  subside  from  the  misty 
air,  so  as  to  make  the  grass,  and  the  skins  of  negroes, 
appear  whitish.  The  extreme  dryness  which  attends 
this  wind,  or  fog,  without  dews,  withers  and  quite  dries 
the  leaves  of  vegetables;  and  is  said,  by  Dr.  Lind,  at 
some  seasons,  to  be  malignant  and  fatal  to  mankind. 
From  the  subsidence  of  a  white  powder,  it  seems  proba- 
ble that  the  Harmattan  has  its  origin  in  the  violent 
eruptions  of  volcanoes,  from  the  unexplored  mountains 
of  Africa. — Darwin. 

HARMONIC  DUEL.  The  inhabitants  of  Green* 
land,  though  living  amidst  perpetual  ice  and  snows,  have 


160    HAVANNA— HAWKSBILL  TURTLE. 

a  wonderful  taste  for  poetry  5  insomuch  that  they  eve*h 
decide  their  angry  disputes  by  poetic  combat.  When 
they  happen  to  quarrel,  they  challenge  one  another,  it 
is  said,  to  contend  in  Terse  ;  and  he  that  excels  his  an- 
tagonist in  this  bloodless  kind  of  warfare,  is  considered 
as  conqueror.  The  spectators  are  highly  diverted  5  and 
the  two  champions,  after  cudgelling  each  other  in 
rhyme,  generally  part  in  good  humor. 

HAY  ANNA,  the  principal  seaport  in  the  island  of 
Cuba,  the  key  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  the  centre  of 
the  Spanish  trade  and  navigation  in  America.  The 
town  of  Havanna  stands  near  the  bottom  of  a  small  bay, 
that  forms  o$e  of  the  safest  harbors  in  the  world,  and 
which  is  so  capacious,  that  a  thousand  ships  of  the  larg- 
est size  may  coinmodiously  ride  at  anchor.  The  en- 
trance into  this  harbor  is  by  a  channel  so  narrow  that 
only  one  ship  can  pass  at  a  tima,  and  which  is  stronglj 
fortified  on  each  side.  In  the  administration  of  the 
elder  Pitt,  1762,  this  city  was  taken  by  the  British  forces  ? 
the  fleet  being  commanded  by  admiral-Pococke,  and  th# 
army  by  the  earl  of  Albermarle.  By  the  treaty  of  peace, 
1763,  (the  earl  of  Bute  being  then  prime  minister)  Ha- 
vanna was  restored  to  the  Spaniards,  much  to  the  dis- 
satisfaction of  the  British  nation.  It  was  considered 
by  them  as  the  Gibraltar  of  America,  by  possessing 
which  they  might  command  the  trade  not  only  of  all  the 
West-India  islands,  but  of  the  whole  South  American 
continent. — Russell. 

HAWKSBILL  TURTLE,  an  animal  of  the  turtle 
Species,  of  a  moderate  size  ;  has  a  long  and  small  mouth, 
somewhat  resembling  the  bill  of  a  hawk ;  its  flesh  is 
very  indifferent :  but  the  shell  serves  for  valuable  pur- 
poses. This  is  the  animal  that  supplies  the  tortoise- 
shell,  of  which  such  a  variety  of  beautiful  articles  are 
made.  The  substance  of  which  the  shells  of  other  tur- 
tles are  composed,  is  thin  and  porous  ^  but  that  of  the 
hawksbill  turtle  is  linn,  and  when  polished,  is  beauti- 
fully marbled.  They  are  easily  cast  with  what  form  the 
•workman  thinks  proper,  by  making  them  soft  and  pli- 
ant in  warm  water,  and  then  screwing  them  in  a  mould 
u  modal. — 


HEAT— HEBISCUS— HECLA.  161 

HEAT,  the  subtile  invisible  element  or  fluid,  that  ex- 
pels colds,  expands  bodies,  and.,  when  not  too  intense, 
assists  the  progress  of  vegetation.  The  latent  heat  that 
is  diffused  through  bodies,  is  called  caloric,  by  the  ch ym- 
ists.  If  caloric  be  disengaged  either  bv  the  gradual  ac- 
tion of  certain  constituent  parts  upon  one  another,  or 
on  the  alteration  of  their  form,  occasioned  by  exterior 
causes,  inflammable  mixtures  may  be  spontaneously  in- 
flamed. There  are  several  substances  which  are  liable 
to  inflammation,  without  any  external  application  of  fire 
to  them ;  and  by  their  own  internal  heat  may  set  fire  to 
ships,  houses,  &c.  Mr.  Georgi,  of  the  imperial  acade- 
my of  Petersburg!!,  has  clearly  ascertained,  from  a  num- 
ber, of  experiments,  the  spontaneous  inflammation  or 
combustion  of  pyrites,  hemp,  lamp-black,  wool,  hemp- 
seed,  oil,  the  bran  of  rye  strongly  roasted,  and  wrapt  up 
in  a  packet ;  as  also  torrified  root  of  succory,  and  saw- 
dust of  Mahogany  wood.— -Green.  To  the  aforemen- 
tioned articles  may  be  added  green  hay,  when  laid  close 
and  thick  in  a  barn-mow. 

HEBISCUS,  one  of  the  most  stately  of  all  herbaceous 
plants  :  it  grows  ten  or  twelve  feet  high,  branching  regu- 
larly so  as  to  form  a  sharp  cone.  These  branches  also 
divide  again,  and  are  embellished  with  large  expanded 
crimson  flowers.  This  herbal  plant  sometimes  rises 
to  the  size  and  figure  of  a  bea'utiful  little  tree  5  having 
at  once  several  hundred  of  these  splendid  flowers,  and 
which  may  be  then  seen  at  a  great  distance.  They  con- 
tinue to  flower  in  succession. all  summer  and  autumn, 
when  the  slems  wither  and  decay  5.  but  the  perennial 
root  sends  forth  new  stems  the  next  spring^  and  so  on 
for  many  years. — JBartram. 

HECLA,  a  furious  volcano,  situated  in  the  southern 
part  of  the  island  of  Iceland,  about  four  miles  from  the 
sea  coast.  It  is  divided  into  three  points  at  the  top,  the 
middle  point  or  beak  being  the  highest  5  and  according 
io  an  exact  observation  with  Ramselen's  barometer,  is 
five  thousand  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea.  There  k 
an  uninterrupted  tract  of  lava  round  this  mountain,  ex- 
tending to  a  vast  distance.  Towards  the  summit,  heat 
and  cold  are  felt  at  the  same  time  5  a  hot  s 
P  2 


162  HEDYSARUM  GYRANS-HEG IRA— HELOTS. 

ing  from  the  mountain,  while  the  surrounding  atmos- 
phere is  filled  with  frost  to  an  intolerable  degree.  The 
eruptions  of  Helca,  in  169S  and  1766,  occasioned  terri- 
ble devastations ;  some  of  the  matter  being  thrown  forth 
to  the  distance  of  a  hundred  and  fifty  miles,  and  a  cir- 
cuit of  nearly  fifty  miles  laid  waste  by  the  lava.  The 
Icelanders  believe  that  some  of  the  souls  of  the  dam- 
ned are  imprisoned  in  the  burning  entrails  of  this  moun- 
tain. 

HEDYSARUM  GYRANS,  a  sensitive  plant,  which 
is  a  native  of  the  East-Indies  5  and  was  exported  from 
•Bengal  to  England,  in  1775,  by  Dr.  Patrick  Russel,  and 
grows  in  Kew  Gardens  :  it  arrives  at  the  height  of  four 
feet,  and  in  autumn  produces  bunches  of  yellow  flowers. 
The  leaves  are  all  day  long  in  constant  motion  without 
any  external  impulse.  They  move  up  and  down  ;  and 
while  the  one  leaf  is  .rising,  its  associate  is  generally  de- 
scending. The  motion  downwards  is  more  irregular 
than  the  motion  upwards,  which  is  steady  and  uniform. 
These  motions  are  observable  for  the  space  of  twenty- 
four  hours,  in  the  leaves  of  a  branch  which  is  lopped 
off  from  the  shrub  if  it  be  kept  in  water.  If  from  any 
obstacle  the  motion  is  retarded,  on  the  removal  of  that 
obstacle  it  is  resumed  with  a  greater  degree  of  veloci- 
ty.—"Encyclopaedia,  St.  Fond. 

HEGIRA,  an  Arabic  word  signifying  flight.  In 
chronology,  a  celebrated  epoch  whence  the  Mahome- 
tans compute  their  time ;  which  took  its  origin  from 
Mahomet's  flight  from  Mecca  on  the  evening  of  the  15th 
or  16 th  of  July,  622  5  being  driven  thence  by  the  magis- 
trates, for  fear  his  imposture  should  occasion  sedition. 
As  the  years  of  the  Hegira  consist  only  of  354  days, 
they  are  reduced  to  the  Julian  Calendar,  by  multiply- 
ing the  year  of  the  Hegira  by  354,  dividing  the  product 
by  S65,  subtracting  the  intercalary  days,  or  as  many 
times  as  there  are  four  years  in  the  quotient,  and  adding 
the  remainder. — Penning. 


HELOTS,  laborers  in  husbandry  and  the  mechanic- 
al arts,  in  ancient  Sparta.  The  Spartans,  or  Lacede- 
monians, were  a  nation  of  soldiers,  and,  like  the  Amcri- 


HERACLEUM  SIBERICUM— HERCULANEUM.    163 

can  Indians,  held  all  other  professions  but  that  of  arms 
in  the  utmost  contempt.  The  Helots,  who  were  tillers 
of  the  grounds,  and  mechanics,  were  treated  by  the  sol- 
diery like  laboring  cattle.  They  were  obliged  to  wear 
dog-skin  caps,  and  sheep-skin  garments  ;  were  com- 
pelled to  submit  without  resistance  to  every  insult  and 
injury  5  and  were  liable  to  be  killed  at  pleasure,  and 
with  impunity. 

HERACLEUM  SIBERICUM,  or  Sweet  Grass,  a 
useful  plant  that  grows  in  Kamptskatka,  and  in  some 
parts  of  Siberia.  When  this  plant  attains  to  its  full 
growth,  it  is  about  six  feet  in  height  5  and  it  is  covered 
with  a  sort  of  white  down,  the  taste  of  which  is  as  sweet 
as  sugar,  though  very  hot  and  pungent.  The  Kampt- 
schadales  formerly  used  this  plant  in  cookery  ;  but 
^iihce  the  Russians  have  gotten  possession  of  their  coun- 
try, they  chiefly  appropriate  it  to  the  purpose  of  distil- 
lation ;  drawing  from  it  a  liquor  which  the  natives  call 
raka,  and  which  has  the  strength  of  brandy.— -Cooke's 
Voyages. 

HERCULANEUM,  an  ancient  city  of  Italy,  in  the 
kingdom  of  Naples,  totally  overwhelmed  by  an  eruption 
of  Mount  Vesuvius,  in  the  beginning  of  the  reign  of 
Titus,  the  Roman  emperor,  or  in  the  year  79.  Dur- 
ing the  18th  century,  a  vast  number  of  monuments  be- 
longing to  that  ancient  city  have  been  dug  out  of  the 
ruins  ;  such  as  paintings?  statues,  furniture,  &c.  From 
the  ruins  of  Herculaneum,  nearly  eighteen  hundred  man- 
uscripts chiefly  Greek,  have  been  taken  and  deposited 
in  the  Museum  of  Portici,  belonging  to  the  king  of  Na- 
ples. 

HERON,  a  bird  that  lives  chiefly  among  pools  and 
marshes,  and  preys  on  fish.  It  is  remarkably  light  in 
proportion  to  its  bulk,  scarce  weighing  three  pounds 
and  an  half,  yet  expands  a  breadth  of  wing,  which  is 
five  feet  from  tip  to  tip.  The  heron  takes  his  prey, 
usually  by  wading  into  the  water,  and  sometimes  by 
hovering  over  it ;  but  he  never  hovers  over  deep  wa- 
ters, as  there  his  prey  is  enabled  to  escape  him  by  sink- 
ing to  the  bottom.  In  shallow  places  he  darts  with 


164      HERSCHELL-HESSIAN  FLY— HINDOOS. 

more  certainty ;  for  though  the  fish  at  sight  of  its  ene- 
my instantly  descends,  yet  the  heron,  with  its  long  bill 
and  legs,  instantly  pins  it  to  the  bottom,  and  thus  seizes* 
it  securely.  In  this  manner,  after  having  been  seen 
with  its  long  neck  for  above  a  minute  under  water,  he 
rises  upon  the  wing,  with  a  trout  or  an  eel  struggling 
in  his  bill  to  get  free.  The  greedy  bird,  however,  flies 
to  the  shore,  scarce  gives  it  time  to  expire,  but  swal- 
lows it  whole,  and  then  returns  to  fishing  as  before. 
The  life  of  the  heron  is  said  to  exceed  sixty  years. — 
Goldsmith. 

HERSC1IELL,  or  Uranus,  a  planet,  discovered,  with 
a  reflecting  telescope,  of  great  excellence,  by  Mr.  Hers- 
chell,  a  celebrated  astronomer  of  Hanover,  residing  in 
Great  Britain.  The  other  planets  had  been  known,  as 
such,  to  the  highest  antiquity  ;  but  from  its  extreme 
smallness,  this  had  escaped  ascertainment,  till  the  year 
1781,  although  it  had  been  recognised  as  a  very  minute 
^tar,  by  several  astronomers.  It  is  near  twice  Saturn's 
distance,  or  eighteen  hundred  million  miles  from  the 
sun  ;  will  be  near  eighty -two  years  and  six  months  in 
going  round  him  $  is  of  a  pale  colour  5  is  about  a  hun- 
dred times  as  large  as  the  earth  ;  has  six  satellites,  or 
moons. — Neiv  London  Review. 

HESSIAN  FLY,  an  insect  that  destroys  wheat.  It 
first  began  to  make  its  appearance  in  this  country  on 
Long-Island,  about  the  time  of  the  termination  of  the 
American  revolutionary  war.  This  insect  in  the  spring 
resembles  a  small  Hax  seed,  though  rather  of  a  rounder 
shape  :  towards  the  beginning  of  summer  they  mostly 
appear  of  a  white  colour,  and  of  an  increased  length. 
They  generally  may  be  found  between  the  first,  second, 
and  third  blades,  near  the  root  above  the  ground  ; 
sometimes  in  the  middle  of  the  spire  near  the  root.-— 
American  Museum. 

HINDOOS,  or  Gentoos,  the  inhabitants  of  that  part 
of  India  known  by  the  name  of  Hindustan  or  the  Mo- 
gul's empire,  who  profess  the  religion  of  the  Rramins. 
The  religion  of  the  Hindoos,  by  which  they  are  made 
to  differ  so  much  from  other  people,  is  contained  in 


certain  books  named  veda,  or  vedams,  written  in  a  Ian* 
guage  called  Sanscrit,  which  is  now  known  only  to  the 
learned  among  them.  They  are  divided  into  four  tribes* 
the  chief  of  which  is  that  of  the  Bramins  $  each  tribe  is 
subdivided,  into  casts  ;  and  no  Hindoo  is  permitted  to 
quit  the  cast  in  which  he  was  born  on  any  account.  It 
is  said  that  the  difficulty  of  converting  them  to  the 
Christian  religion  is  owing  considerably  to  the  fear  of 
losing  their  cast  5  which,  as  it  respects  the  higher  or- 
is  considered  as  even  worse  than  death.  The 
lowest  cast,  called  Chandalas,  are  never  employed  but 
in  the  meanest  offices.  Except  the  cast  of  soldiers, 
who  are  called  Sepoys,  the  111  A:*  DOS  eat  no  flesh,  nor 
shed  blood,  their  ordinary  food  being  rice  and  other  ve- 
getables ;  but  what  they  esteem  most  is  milk,  as  com- 
ing from  the  cow,  an  animal  for  which  they  have  the 
most  extravagant  veneration.  They  will  not  eat  any 
.food  provided  by  those  of  an  inferior  class,  nor  by  per* 
;sons  of  a  different  religion,  and  they  scrupulously  ab- 
stain from  all  intoxicating  liquors.  Their  religion  is 
idolatrous  ;  the, temples  consecrated  to  their  deities  are 
magnificent  :  their  religious  ceremonies  are  splendid, 
and  the  Bramins,  or  priests,  have  absolute  dominion, 
over  the  minds  of  the  people.  They  believe  that  bath- 
ing in  the  Ganges  will  wrash  away  their  sins,  and  puri- 
fy their  souls  as  well  as  bodies.  In  the  code  of  Hindoo 
laws  is  the  following  passage  ;  "  It  is  proper  for  a  wo- 
man, after  her  husband's  death,  to  burn  herself  in  the 
fire  with  his  corpse."  The  number  of  this  people  is 
computed  at  one  hundred  million. — Jones,  Walker. 

HINDOSTAN,  an  extensive  country  in  Asia,  and 
one  of  the  most  celebrated  in  the  world  for  its  antiquity, 
populousness,  and  opulence  ;  situated  between  the 
eighth  and  thirty-sixth  degrees  of  north  latitude,  and 
is,  consequently,  partly  in  the  torrid,  and  partly  in  th« 
northern  temperate  zone.  In  1227,  the  Tartars,  under 
Gingis  Khan,  emerging  from  the  northern  parts  of  Asia, 
conquered  a  great  part  of  the  Asiatic  continent,  and 
Hindostan  in  particular  :  and  in  twenty-two  years  de- 
stroyed upwards  of  fourteen  million  people  :  here  be- 
gun the  Mogul  empire  in  India.  In  the  beginning  of 
the  fifteenth  century,  Timur  Bek,  or  Tamerlane,  equal- 


166    HISSING  SNAKE— HISTORICAL  PAINTING. 

Ij  signalised  for  his  conquests  and  his  cruelties,  be* 
came  Great  Mogul.  In  the  former  part  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century 5  Kouli  Khan,  or  Nader  Sha,  who  had 
usurped  the  throne  of  Persia,  made  a  successful  expe- 
dition into  Hindostan,  and  pillaged  from  that  country 
immense  treasures.  Since  that  period,  many  of  the 
Nabobs  have  made  themselves  independent  $  and' the 
English  East-India  Company,  prompting  them  to  mu- 
tual wars,  and  taking  advantages  of  their  contentions, 
have  conquered  several  of  them  one  after  another,  and 
extended  their  dominion  over  many  millions  of  the  na- 
tives ;  who  have  suffered  from  those  avaricious  mer- 
chants the  most  horrible  oppressions.  See  BENGAL. 

HISSING  SNAKE,  a  venomous  serpent  that  infests 
lake  Erie.  It  is  about  eighteen  inches  long,  and  is 
small  and  speckled.  When  you  approach  it,  it  flattens 
in  a  moment,  and  its  spots,  wriieh  are  of  various  colours, 
become  visibly  brighter  through  rage.  At  the  same 
time  it  blows  from  its'- mouth  with  great  force  a  subtile 
wind,  said  to.be  of  a  nauseous  smell  ;  and  if  drawn  in. 
with  the  breath  of  the  unwary  traveller,  will  infallibly 
bring  on  a  decline,  that  in  a  few  months  will  prove  fa- 
tal.— Winterbotham. 

%  HISTORICAL  PAINTING,  a  representation  of 
historical  facts  by  the  pencil.  Three  eminent  artists  in 
this  department  are  natives  of  America.  Sir  Benja- 
min West,  who  has  long  resided  in  Great  Britain,  and  is 
said  by  some  good  judges,  to  be  the  greatest  historical 
painter  now  living,  is  a  native  of  Pennsylvania.  His 
Suite  of  sacred  paintings  for  the  royal  chapel  at  Wind- 
sor, his  I)e&th  of  Wolfe,  his  Buttle  of  La  Hogue,  his 
Battle  of  the  Boyne,  and  his  flood,  are  considered  as 
deserving  particular  attention.  Mr.  John  Singleton 
Copely,  a  distinguished  artist,  patronised  and  instructed 
by  Mr.  West,  and  residing  in  Great  Britain,  is  a  native 
of  the  state  of  Massachusetts.  His  Death  of  Chatham, 
and  his  Siege  of  Gibraltar*  are  generally  considered  as 
among  the  most  respectable  monuments  of  his  genius. 
Mr.  John  Truimbull,  brother  of  his  excellency  Jonathan 
Trumbull,  is  a  native  of  Connecticut ;  and  he  also  stu- 
died for  some  time  under  the  direction  of  Mr.  West* 


HOLLAND— HOLLAND,  NEW.          167 

Several  historical  paintings,  with  which  he  has  present- 
ed the  public,  place  him  high  among  this  description  of 
artists.  His  best  pieces  are  the  Death  of  Montgomery, 
the  Battle  of  Bunker's  Hill,  and  the  Sortie  of  Gibraltar. 
Mr.  Gilbert  Stuart,  who  placed  himself  under  the  di- 
rection of  Mr.  West,  and  has  obtained  a  very  high 
reputation,  in  Great  Britain  and  America,  as  a  Portrait 
Painter,  is  a  native  of  the  state  of  Rhode-Island. — Mil- 
ler. 

HOLLAND,  the  most  considerable  of  the  united 
Dutch  provinces;  bordering  on  the  German  ocean. — 
It  contains  twenty- nine  walled  towns,  with  many  others 
that  enjoy  municipal  privileges,  and  above  four  hundred 
villages.  This  whole  country  seems  to  be  a  conquest 
upon  the  sea,  and  in  a  manner  rescued  from  its  bosom. 
The  surface  of  the  earth  is  below  the  level  of  the  wa- 
ter ;  and  one,  upon  approaching  the  coast,  looks  down 
upon  it  from  the  sea,  as  into  a  valley.  The  soil  is  so 
soft  and  marshy,  that  but  for  the  constant  care  in  form- 
ing ditches  and  canals,  it  would  be  hardly  capable  of 
cultivation.  Notwithstanding  these  disadvantages,  by 
agricultural,  mechanical,  and  commercial  industry,  this 
had  become  the  richest  country  in  Europe.  The  mer- 
cantile capital  of  Holland  was  so  great  that  it  was,  as  it 
were,  continually  overflowing,  sometimes  into  the  pub- 
lic funds  of  foreign  countries,  sometimes  into  the  most 
round  about  foreign  trades  of  consumption,  and  some- 
times into  'the  carrying  trade.  All  near  employments 
being  completely  filled  up,  all  the  capital  which  could 
be  placed  in  them  with  any  tolerable  profit,  being  al- 
ready placed  in  them,  the  capital  of  Holland  necessari- 
ly flowed  towards  the  most  distant  employments.  In 
jthe  year  1795,  Holland  was  swallowed  up  in  the  French 
republic. — Morse,  Goldsmith,  Jl.  Smith. 

HOLLAND,  NEW,  or  New  South  Wales,  the  larg- 
est island  in  the  world,  or  perhaps  more  properly,  an- 
other continent :  the  places  belonging  to  it  which  are 
best  known,  are  Botany -Bay,  Port  Jackson,  and  Van 
Dieman's  Land.  This  vast  territory,  reaching  from  ten 
to  forty -four  degrees  south  latitude,  is  two  thousand 
and  four  hundred  miles  in  length,  and  two  thousand  and 


168  HONEYBEES, 

three  hundred  in  breadth.  The  western  part  was  dis- 
covered by  the  Dutch,  early  in  the  seventeenth  centu- 
ry :  and  in  the  year  1687,  Dampier.  an  Englishman,, 
sailed  along  this  coast.  The  eastern  part  was  first  ex- 
plored by  captain  Cooke,  in  the  year  1770  ;  and  when  the 
English  took  possession  they  gave  it  the  name  of  New 
South  Wales.  In  1786,  orders  were  issued  by  his  Bri- 
tannic majesty  in  council  for  transporting  and  settling 
a  colony  of  convicts  in  New -Holland  :  that  part  of  the 
coast  called  Botany -Bay  being  first  intended  for  the 
place  of  settlement ;  but  the  actual  settlement  was  at 
Port  Jackson.  The  general  face  of  the  country  is 
pleasingly  diversilied  with  gentle  risings,  and  small 
winding  vallies,  covered  for  the  most  part  with  large 
spreading  trees,  and  flowering  shrubs.  The  natives 
are  represented  as  the  most  ignorant  and  miserable  race 
of  human  beings  existing  on  the  face  of  the  earth. — - 
Their  colour  is  a  deep  chocolate  ;  their  skins  are  cov- 
ered with  filth  :  clothing  they  have  none.  Some  of 
them  perforate  the  cartillage  of  the  nose,  and  thrust 
through  it  a  bone  as  thick  as  a  man's  finger,  and  five  or 
six  inches  long.  In  Van  Diemari's  Land,  which  is  the 
south  extremity  of  New-Holland,  the  wretched  inhab- 
itants convert  many  of  their  largest  trees  into  habita- 
tions. The  trunks  of  these  trees  are  hollowed  out  to 
the  height  of  six  or  seven  feet,  by  means  of  fire.  In 
the  middle  are  their  hearths  made  of  clay,  round  which 
four  or  five  persons  might  sit.  These  places  of  shelter 
are  rendered  durable  by  their  leaving  one  Side  of  the 
tree  sound,  so  that  it  continues  growing  with  great  lux- 
uriance.— Cooke's  Voyages,  et  cet. 

HONEY  BEES,  a  species  of  animals  remarkable 
for  industry,  economy,  and  ingenuity.  They  have  all 
things  in  common,  and  yet  live  under  inviolable  laws. 
Mindful  of  the  coming  winter,  they  toil  in  summer,  and 
lay  up  food  in  common  stock.  Some  are  employed  in 
Ihe  fields,  gathering  honey  and  wax  ;  some  construct 
the  combs  ;  some  fill  the  cells  with  honey ;  some  watch 
at  the  gates  to  observe  the  weather,  or  receive  the  loads 
of  those  that  return  to  the  hive.  All  have  one  time  of 
labor  5  all  have  one  rest  from  work.  In  the  morning 
they  rush  out  of  tlie  gates  without  delay  5  at  evening  ail 


HOP— HORNET.  169 

is  hushed  for  the  night.  It  has  been  remarked,  that  if 
Newton  had  been  a  bee,  he  could  not  have  constructed 
the  combs,  or  cells,  with  more  geometrical  exactness. 
In  a  hive  of  bees  are  commonly  found  from  fifteen  to 
eighteen  thousand  inhabitants  5  over  which  there  is  al- 
ways a  queen,  that  reigns  obsolute.  The  queen  is  dis- 
tinguished from  the  other  bees,  by  the  form  of  her  bo- 
dy ;  she  is  longer  and  larger  than  they  are,  and  her 
wings  are  much  shorter  than  theirs  in  proportion  to  her 
body.  Her  hinder  parts  are  more  taper  than  those  of 
the  other  bees ;  her  belly  and  legs  are  of  a  deep  gold- 
en yellow.  A  hive  of  bees  cannot  subsist  without  a 
queen,  as  she  lays  all  the  eggs,  and  thus  produces  the 
whole  posterity.  No  other  earthly  monarch  has  such 
obedient  subjects.  If  you  take  the  queen,  wherever 
you  put  her  in  sight,  the  whole  hive  will  follow,  and 
presently  surround  her  ;  and  when  a  queen  happens  to 
die,  the  bees  of  her  hive  immediately  leave  working, 
consume  their  honey,  fly  about  their  own  and  other 
hives  at  unusual  hours  when  other  bees  are  at  rest,  and 
pine  away,  if  not  soon  supplied  with  another  sovereign, 
—  Virgil,  Encyc lopcedia . 

HOP,  a  narcotic  plant  of  the  creeping  kind,  the 
flower  of  which  is  an  ingredient  in  beer  and  ale.  In 
some  parts  of  Europe  vast  profits  are  made  by  cultivat- 
ing this  plant.  It  is  stated  in  a  late  publication,  that  in 
England  and  Wales,  there  are  forty-four  thousand  acres 
of  hop  ground,  producing,  on  an  average,  thirty  pounds 
sterling  an  acre.  Cloth  has  been  manufactured  in  Eng- 
land from  hop-stalks,  by  rotting  them  in  water,  and 
dressing  them  in  the  manner  of  flax.  To  promote  this 
kind  of  manufacture,  the  London  society  for  the  encour^ 
agement  of  &rts,  &c.  in  the  year  1799,  offered  a  pre- 
mium of  a  gokl  medal,  or  30  guineas,  to  the  person  who 
should  present  to  the  society  the  greatest  quantity,  not 
less  than  thirty  yards  of  cloth,  at  least  27  inches  wide, 
made  in  Great  Britain  of  hop  stalks  or  vines,  and  supe- 
rior to  any  other  hitherto  manufactured  in  England  of 
that  material. — New  London  Review. 

HORNET,  a  large  strong  fly,  whose  body  is  long, 
and  of  a  bluish  colour,  and  whose  tail  is  armed  with  a 

Q 


iro  HORSE— HOST. 

formidable  sting;.  It  would  hardly  be  thought  that 
these  furious  and  vindictive  little  animals  could  be  ren-* 
dered  tame  and  amicable  by  gentle  usage  :  yet  Mr.  J. 
Hector  St.  John,  in  his  farmer's  letters,  assures  us,  that 
in  the  middle  of  his  parlour  he  had  a  curious  republic 
of  industrious  hornets,  hanging  to  the  ceiling  by  the 
same  twig  on  which  it  was  built  in  the  woods  :  that  they 
lived  on  flies,  and  were  busy  in  catching  them  even  on 
the  eye-lids  of  his  children,  besmearing  them  with  a 
sort  of  glue,  and  then  carrying  them  to  their  nests  as 
food  for  their  young  ones  ;  that  his  family  had  become 
so  accustomed  to  their  strong  buzzing  as  to  take  no  no- 
tice of  them  ;  and  that  notwithstanding  their  fierce  and 
vindictive  nature,  kindness  and  hospitality  had  render- 
ed them  useful  and  harmless. 

HORSE,  a  well  known,  useful,  and  noble  animal. 
Buffon  remarks,  that  the  horses  used  by  the  great  men 
in  the  Indies,  are  fed  with  hay  during  the  day,  and  at 
night,  in  place  of  barley  and  oats,  they  get  peas  boiled 
•with  sugar  and  butter.  This  nourishing  diet  supports 
them,  arid  gives  them  some  strength :  without  it,  they 
\vould  soon  perish  5  the  climate  not  being  adapted  to 
their  constitution.  In  scarcity  of  provision,  they  give 
them  opium,  which  has  the  same  effect  both  on  horses 
and  men  ;  for  it  at  once  damps  the  appetite,  and  ena- 
bles them  to  undergo  fatigue.  The  common  food  of 
Arabian  horses,  which  consists  of  dates  and  camel's 
milk,  is  given  them  every  morning,  and  at  night.  These 
aliments,  instead  cf  fattening  them,  render  them  mea- 
gre, nervous,  and  very  fleet.  The  colts  spontaneously 
suck  the  she-camels,  which  they  follow  till  the  time  they 
are  ready  for  mounting,  which  is  not  before  the  age  of 
six  or  seven  years.  It  is  a  piece  of  natural  history  use- 
ful to  be  generally  known,  that,  as  horses  moult,  or  cast 
their  hair  every  year,  commonly  in  the  spring,  and 
sometimes  also  in  the  autumn;  they  then  are  weak- 
er then  at  any  other  periods,  aud  consequently  require 
more  care,  and  should  be  more  plentifully  fed. — Clark. 

HOST,  an  army  or  multitude  :  the  name  is  often  ap- 
plied to  the  heavenly  bodies.  The  Host  of  Heaven. 
mentioned  in  the  scriptures,  as  worshipped  by  the  an- 


HOTTENTOTS.  171 

cient  heathen  nations,  and  sometimes  by  the  Israelites, 
meant  the  celestial  orbs.  The  names  of  these  orbs  be- 
ing male  and  female,  the  male  orbs  were  called  Baalim, 
and  the  female  Jlshtaroth.  Baal,  or  Bel,  in  the  eastern 
language,  signified  Lord,  and  when  used  in  the  singu- 
lar number  meant  the  Sun,  the  supposed  Lord  or  King 
of  the  celestial  bodies  :  Baalim,  the  plural  of  Baal,  meant 
Lords,  or  the  celestial  orbs,  under  the  government  of 
Baal,  or  the  Sun,  as  their  supreme  head.  The  moon 
\vas  styled  the  Queen  of  Heaven,  and  was  sometimes 
worshipped  under  the  name  of  Astarte,  and  sometimes 
under  that  of  Diana  ;  while  the  female  planets,  under 
the  government  of  the  Queen  of  Heaven,  or  the  Moon, 
were  called  Jlshiaroth.  The  worship  of  Ashtaroth  was 
peculiarly  attractive  to  the  women  :  hence,  Solomon's 
strange  wives  enticed  him,  against  his  better  knowledge, 
to  build  a  High  Place  for  Ashtaroth,  (called  Ckemos/i) 
on  a  hill  before  Jerusalem.  The  Host  of  Heaven,  or 
the  celestial  orbs,  were  worshipped  on  lulls  and  moun- 
tains, called  in  scripture,  High  Places  ;  because  there 
the  clearest  and  fullest  view  of  them  could  be  obtained. 

HOTTENTOTS,  a  singular  description  of  people, 
\vho  inhabit  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  and  along  the  sea 
coasts  in  the  southern  parts  of  Africa.  They  are  as  tall 
as  most  Europeans,  but  more  slender ;  their  skin  is  of 
a  dingy  yellow ;  their  teeth  are  the  finest  imaginable. 
They  are  remarkable  for  their  honesty,  and  fidelity,  nor 
seem  lacking  in  native  powers  of  mind  ;  but  are  the  la- 
ziest and  filthiest  among  human  beings.  Both  men  and 
women  generally  go  bare-headed,  and  seldom  wear 
shoes ;  they  are  clothed  with  sheep-skins  ;  the  wool  be- 
ing worn  outward  in  summer,  and  inward  in  winter: 
both  sexes  wear  rings  of  iron,  copper,  brass,  or  ivory, 
about  their  legs  and  arms.  They  besmear  their  bodies 
with  butter  or  sheep's  fat,  mixed  with  soot,  and  cook 
their  victuals  in  the  most  filthy  manner.  Their  huts 
are  small,  and  commonly  filled  with  smoke ;  which 
seems  riot  to  injure  or  oftend  their  eyes,  as  they  have 
been  accustomed  to  it  from  their  infancy.  They  wear 
ia  their  countenances  the  evident  marks  of  content- 
ment ;  they  discover  an  abundant  flow  of  spirits ;  and 
.frequently  live  tq  old  age.  There  are  many  tribes  of 


irs     HOWLING  MONKEY—HUDSON'S  BAY. 

Hottentots,  among  -which  the  Boshmans  seem  to  be  th« 
most  savage  and  the  most  degraded.  The  Boshmans 
inhabit  the  mountains  in  the  interior  part  of  the  coun- 
try. Many  of  them  go  entirely  naked ;  houses  made 
of  bushes,  and  clefts  of  the  rocks,  are  their  dwellings  : 
and  wild  roots,  berries,  plants,  catterpillars,  ants,  lo- 
custs, snakes,  and  spiders,  eaten  raw,  are  their  food. 

HOWLING  MONKEY,  a  species  of  monkeys  which 
inhabit  the  woods  of  Brazil  and  Guiana,  in  South 
America,  and  take  their  name  from  the  noise  they  make. 
Several  of  them  assemble  together,  one  placing  himself 
on  a  higher  branch,  the  rest  placing  themselves  in  a 
regular  order  below  him :  the  first  then  begins  as  if  to 
harangue  with  a  loud  tone,  which  may  be  heard  a  great 
distance.  At  a  signal  made  with  his  hand,  the  rest  join 
in  regular  chorus,  the  most  dissonant  and  tremendous 
that  can  be  conceived  ;  on  another  signal  they  all  stop, 
except  the  first,  who  finishes  singly,  and  all  the  assem- 
bly breaks  up.  These  monkeys  are  very  fierce,  and  so 
wild  and  mischievous,  that  they  can  neither  be  conquer- 
ed nor  tamed.  They  live  in  trees  and  leap  from  bough 
to  bough  with  wonderful  agility,  catching  hold  with 
their  hands  and  tails,  as  they  throw  themselves  from 
one  branch  to  another. — Winterbotham. 

HUDSON'S  BAY,  a  vast  bay  of  North  America, 
and  may  properly  be  called  the  American  Mediterra- 
nean ;  lying  north  of  Canada,  and  extending  about  three 
hundrga  leagues  in  length,  and,  at  its  broadest  part,  a 
hundred  and  thirty  leagues  in  width.  It  took  its  name 
from  captain  Henry  Hudson,  who  discovered  and  en- 
tered it,  in  the  year  1610.  This  voyage  put  a  period  to 
the  useful  adventures  of  that  enterprising  and  skilful 
mariner.  His  crew  mutinied,  seized  upon  him,  and 
seven  of  those  who  were  most  faithful  to  him,  and  com- 
mitted them  to  the  icy  seas  in  an  open  boat :  they  were 
never  more  heard  of.  The  oatli  by  which  the  conspira- 
tors bound  themselves  to  execute  their  horrible  plot, 
can  scarce  find  a  parallel,  for  hypocrisy,  in  the  history 
of  human  wickedness:  it  was  as  follows.  "  You  shall 
4i  swear  truth,  to  God,  your  prince  and  country  ;  you 
:;ll  do  nothing  but  to  the  glory  of  God,  and  the  good 


HUDSON'S  RIVER.  173 

«  of  the  action  in  hand,  and  harm  no  man."  The  Brit- 
ish have  settlements  on  the  confines  of  this  bay,  which 
carry  on  the  fur  trade,  under  the  direction  of  the  Hud- 
son Bay  company. 

HUDSON'S  RIVER,  one  of  the  largest  and  finest 
rivers  of  the  United  States ;  rising  in  a  mountainous 
country,   between  the  lakes  Ontario  and  Champlain ; 
running  in  its  whole  course  (two  hundred  and  fifty  miles) 
through  the  state  of  New-York  5    and  emptying  into 
York  Bay.     Its   course  from  Troy  to  New-York,    is 
south  westerly  :  it  is  navigable  for  ships  to  Hudson,  and 
for  sloops  of  an  hundred  tons  to  Albany.     The  principal 
trading  towns  on  this  river,  are,  1st.  Lansingburgh,  and 
Troy,  situated  on  the  eastern  bank ;  the  former  nine, 
and  the  latter  six  miles  above  Albany.     2d.  Albany,  the 
seat  of  government,  and  the  great  emporium  of  the  in- 
creasing trade  of  a  large  extent  of  country  west  and 
north  5  situated  on  the  west  bank  of  the  river,  one  hun- 
dred and  sixty  miles  north  of  the  city  of  New-York. 
3d.  Hudson,  on  the  east  side  of  the  river,  one  hundred 
and  thirty -two  miles  north  of  New-York  city.  4th.  Cats- 
kill,  situated  jon  a  creek,  about  a  hundred  rods  from  the 
western  bank  of  the  river,  five  miles  south  of  Hudson 
city.     5th.  Poughkeepsie,   lying  a  mile  from  the   east 
bank  of  the  river  and  eighty  four  miles  from  its  mouth. 
6th.  Newburgh,  on  the  west  bank  of  the  river,  sixty-six 
miles   from    New-York.     The   river  Hudson  took  its 
name  from  captain  Henry  Hudson,  who  discovered  it. 
The  Dutch  East-India  company  fitted  out  a  ship  for  dis- 
covery, and  put  Hudson  in  command  ;  who  sailed  from 
Amsterdam  on  the  25th  of  March,  1609.     In  the  month 
of  September,  following,  they  entered  the  mouth  of  the 
river  which  bears  his  name  5  and  came  to  anchor  two 
leagues  within  it.     Here  they  were  visited  by  the  na- 
tives, who  brought  corn,   beans,  oysters,  and  tobacco. 
They  had  pipes  of  copper,  in  which  they  smoked $  and 
earth ern  pots  in  which  they  dressed  their  meat.     It  is 
evident  from  his  journal ,  tnat  Hudson  penetrated  this 
river  as  far  as  where  the  city  of  Albany  now  stands  5 
and  the  farther  he  went  up  the  river  the  more  friendly 
and  hospitable  the  natives  appeared,  giving  them  skins 
in  exchange  for  knives  and  other  trifles.-JJ/orse,  Beticnap* 
Q  2 


174     HUGONOTS-- HUMANE  SOCIETIES, 

HUGONOTS,  a  name  given,  in  ridicule  and  con- 
tempt, to  the  protestants  of  France.  In  the  year  1758, 
Henry  IV.  of  France,  assembled  the  heads  of  the  Hu- 
gonots,  or  protestant  patty,  at  Nantes  ;  and  passed  there 
the  famous  edict,  which  not  only  secured  to  them  the 
free  exercise  of  their  religion,  but  a  share  in  the  admin- 
istration of  justice,  and  the  privileges  of  being  admitted 
to  all  employments  of  trust,  profit  and  honor.  These 
privileges  and  immunities  they  enjoyed  till  the  year 
1686,  when  Lewis  XIV.  revoked  the  edict  of  Nantes, 
and  instituted  against  them  a  most  bloody  persecution. 
A  twentieth  part  of  the  whole  numerous  bocfy  of  protes- 
tants were  put  to  death  in  a  short  time  5  and  a  price 
was  set  on  the 'heads  of  the  rest,  who  were  hunted  like 
wild  beasts.  By  those  horrible  seventies,  in  spite  of 
the  guards  which  were  placed  on  the  frontiers,  and  ev- 
ery other  tyrannical  restraint,  France  was  deprived  of 
nearly  six  hundred  thousand  of  her  most  valuable  in- 
habitants; who  carried  their  wealth,  their  industry,  and 
their  skill  in  ingenious  manufactures,  into  England,, 
Holland,  and  Germany.  Some  of  them  fled  to  the 
American  colonies,  particularly  the  ancestors  of  Bow- 
doin,  Jay,  Laurens,  and  Boudinot;  names  distinguished 
in  the  annals  of  the  American  revolution. 

HUMANE  SOCIETIES,  benevolent  associations 
for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  the  means  of  restoring 
the  suspended  actions  of  life,  and  particularly  for  the 
recovery  of  drowned  persons.  These  societies,  which 
began  to  be  instituted  soon  after  the  middle  of  the  18th 
century,  have  been  the  means  of  saving  a  great  number 
of  lives,  and  have  multiplied  to  such  an  extent,  that  they 
are  to  be  found  in  most  of  the  great  sea  port  towns. — 
The  Humane  Society  of  the  city  of  New-York  has  pub- 
lished the  following  directions  for  the  recovery  of  per- 
sons apparently  dead  from  drowning.  1st.  Avoid  any 
violent  agitation  of  the  body,  such  as  rolling  it  on  a  cask 
or  hanging  it  up  by  the.  heels,  but  carefully  convey  it 
with  the  head  a  little  raised,  to  the  nearest  house.  2d, 
Strip  and  dry  the  body,  and  lay  it  in  a  warm  blanket, 
which  must  be  reneweci  every  few  minutes.  If  a  child* 
place  it  between  two  persons  in  a  warm  bed.  3d.  Im- 
warm  spirits  or  brandy  to  the 


HUMMING  BIRD— HUNS.  175 

breast,  belly,  feet  and  hands  ;  at  the  same  time,  the  whole 
body  should  be  diligently  rubbed  with  warm  woollen 
cloths.  4th.  Introduce  the  pipe  of  a  pair  of  bellows  in- 
to one  nostril,  keep  the  other  nostril  and  mouth  closed, 
inflate  the  lungs  till  the  breast  be  a  little  raised,  the 
mouth  and  nostrils  must  then  be  let  free,  and  the  chest 
gently  pressed  in  imitation  of  natural  breathing,  the 
bellows  should  then  be  applied  as  before,  and  the  whole 
process  repeated  and  continued  at  least  fifteen  or  twen- 
ty minutes.  5th.  Inject  into  the  bowels  by  means  of  a 
syringe  a  pint  of  warm  spirits  and  water,  composed  of 
equal  parts  of  each  :  this  injection  the  Society  prefer  to 
tobacco  smoke,  usually  recommended  in  cases  of  this  sort. 
6th.  When  the  physician  who  has  the  care  of  the  appa- 
ratus, arrives  with  the  same,  he  will,  with  the  machine 
for  this  purpose,  inject  into  the  stomach  some  warm 
spirits  and  water,  with  a  small  quantity  of  spirits  of 
hartshorn,  open  a  vein,  or  cause  such  other  remedies  to 
be  applied  as  are  indicated.  7th.  Renew  the  external 
application  of  hot  spirits  to  the  surface  of  the  body,  and 
diligently  continue  the  friction  with  woollen  cloths,  at 
least  two  hours,  or  until  signs  of  returning  life  are  ap- 

Jarent.   8th.  Do  not  despair.   By  perseverance  in  warm 
riction  alone  many  lives  have  been  restored,  arid  in  some 
instances  where  the  bodies  have  remained  in  the  water 
for  the  space  of  half  an  hour. 

HUMMING  BIRD,  the  least  of  all  the  feathered 
tribes  5  its  body  being  not  bigger  than  the  end  of  one's 
finger,  and  its  eggs  no  larger  than  small  peas  :  it  is  a 
native  of  America.  On  this  little  bird  nature  has  pro- 
fusely lavished  her  most  splendid  colours  ;  the  most 
perfect  azure,  the  most  beautiful  gold  colour,  the  most 
dazzling  red,  are  for  ever  in  contrast,  and  help  to  embel- 
lish the  plumes  of  its  majestic  head.  Like  the  bee,  it 
finds  its  food  in  flowers  and  blossoms ;  when  it  feeds,  it 
appears  as  if  immoveable,  though  continually  on  the 
wing.  Myriads  of  those  little  birds  are  seen,  feeding  on 
the  flowers  and  blossoms,  in  the  southern  parts  of  the 
United  States,  and  in  the  Floridas. — St.  John. 

HUNS,  a  fierce  and  savage  race  of  Scythians,  or 
Tartars,  who  originally  were  from  a  country  near  the 


1 76  HURRICANE. 

Euxine,  or  Black  vSea,  on  the  confines  of  Europe  and 
Asia.  They  were  unknown  to  other  nations,  till  the 
year  376  ;  when  they  begun  to  make  dreadful  ravages 
in  Europe,  along  the  Danube.  In  441,  the  Huns  ex- 
tended their  ravages,  under  Attila  their  king,  whose 
vast  conquests  and  horrible  cruelties  gave  him  the  name 
of  the  Scourge  of  God.  Cotemporary  historians  seem 
to  labor  for  adequate  epithets  and  expressions,  in  de- 
scribing the  immense  devastations  and  shocking  butch- 
eries of  this  monster.  Attila  made  himself  master  of 
all  the  northern  countries  from  the  confines  of  Persia  to 
the  banks  of  the  Rhine,  and  even  broke  into  Gaul,  which 
is  now  called  France  ;  burning  the  cities  and  villages, 
and  massacreing  the  inhabitants  without  regard  to  age 
or  sex.  This  people  gave  name  to  Hungary,  where 
they  made  a  permanent  settlement  in  the  ninth  century. 

HURRICANE,  a  furious  and  tremendous  kind  of 
storm  :  concerning  the  nature  and  cause  of  which,  the 
following  thoughts  are  from  a  very  ingenious  author. 
1st.  The  storm  in  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  called  Hurricane, 
is  local,  irregular  in  its  periods,  and  peculiar  to  the 
West-India  islands,  and  the  sea  that  surrounds  them. 
£d.  It  usually  happens  in  August  and  September,  when 
those  islands  are  most  heated,  and  their  soil  is  opened 
by  frequent  showers,  and  when  the  exhalations  rise  in 
the  greatest  abundance.  3d.  The  hurricane  storm  is 
preceded  by  an  extraordinary  effervescence,  or  bub- 
bling up  of  the  sea,  which  then  rises  on  the  shore,  and 
calms  prevail,  huge  dark  clouds  are  formed,  and  the 
atmosphere  is  obscured  by  thick  vapors  sensibly  me- 
phitic.  4th.  Towards  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  the  hurri- 
cane commonly  begins  in  the  western  quarter  ;  but  in 
the  windward  islands,  at  north-east,  or  north  north-east. 
It  rages  for  some  hours  with  incredible  violence  ;  and 
near  the  centre  of  its  operation  is  accompanied  with  a 
deluge  of  rain,  and  sometimes  with  glimmerings  of 
lightning  ;  a  short  calm  ensues  ;  when  the  wind  chang- 
es to  the  opposite  points,  and  blows  for  a  less  time,  but 
with  like  violence  :  it  then  gradually  abates,  and  at 
length  terminates,  varying  all  round  the  horizon.  It  is 
conjectured,  from  these  circumstances,  that  the  sea, 
where  the  hurricanes  prevail,  covers  the  crater  of  a 


HYENA— IBIS—ICE.  177 

prodigious  volcano  long  since  extinct;  or  perhaps,  is 
rather  the  abyss  into  which  a  large  tract  of  land,  under- 
mined by  subterraneous  fires,  is  sunk. — Ellis. 

HYENA,  an  animal  of  the  dog  kind,  and  nearly  the 
size  of  a  wolf.  Its  hair  is  of  a  dirty  greyish  colour,  marked 
with  black,  disposed  in  waves  down  its  body.  It  holds 
its  head  like  a  dog  pursuing  its  scent;  its  back  appear- 
ing elevated  like  that  of  a  hog.  More  savage  and  un- 
tameabje  than  any  other  quadruped,  it  seems  to  be  for- 
ever tii  a  state  of  rage  or  rapacity,  forever  growling, 
except  when  receiving  its  food.  Its  eyes  then  glisten, 
the  bristles  of  its  back  all  stand  upright,  its  head  hangs 
low,  and  yet  its  teeth  appear  ;  all  which  give  it  a  most 
frightful  aspect,  which  a  dreadful  howl  tends  to  height- 
en. It  seems  the  most  untractable,  and,  for  its  size, 
the  most  terrible  of  all  quadrupeds  ;  it  defends  itself 
against  the  lion,  and  is  a  match  for  the  panther.  When 
destitute  of  other  provision,  it  scrapes  open  the  graves, 
mid  devours  the  dead  bodies,  how  putrid  soever. — Gold- 
smith. 


I. 

JSjBIS,  a  bird  that  was  adored  by  the  ancient  Egyptians, 
on  account  of  its  usefulness  in  devouring  serpents  and 
other  noxious  animals  5  it  is  thought  to  have  been  either 
of  the  vulture  or  the  stork  kind.  It  has  been  usually  sup- 
posed that  the  ancient  ibis  was  the  same  with  that  which 
goes  at  present  by  the  same  name  :  but  however  useful 
the  modern  ibis  may  be,  in  ridding  Egypt,  where  it  re- 
sides, of  vermin,  and  venomous  animals  that  infest  it ; 
yet  it  is  much  doubted  whether  this  be  the  same  ibis  to 
which  the  ancients  paid  their  adoration.  The  modern 
ibis  is  not  peculiar  to  Egypt,  as  it  is  to  be  seen  but  at 
certain  seasons  of  the  year  ;  whereas  we  are  informed 
by  Pliny,  that  this  bird  was  seen  no  where  else. — Gold- 
smith. 

ICE,  a  solid,  transparent,  and  brittle  body,  formed  of 


178  ICE  ISLANDS. 

fluid  matter  by  the  power  of  the  cold.  As  by  a  famous 
experiment  of  Mr.  Boyle,  it  appears,  that  ice  evaporates 
very  fast  even  in  severe  frosty  weather,  when  the  wind 
blows  upon  it  $  and  as  ice,  in  a  thawing  state,  is  known 
to  contain  six  times  more  cold  thaa  water  at  the  same 
degree  of  sensible  coldness ;  so  it  is  easy  to  understand* 
that  winds  blowing  over  islands  and  continents  of  ice, 
and  coming  thence  into  our  latitudes,  must  bring  great 
degrees  of  cold  along  with  them.  Hence  it  is  no  won- 
der that  the  north,  north -west,  and  north -east  winds, 
should  be  extremely  cold  in  some  parts  of  the  United 
States  of  America,  during  winter  ;  since  they  pass  over 
vast  regions  of  ice  and  frost,  quite  from  Greenland  and 
the  Frozen  Ocean.  It  has  been  said,  that  ice  will  pro- 
duce fire  if  fair  water  be  made  to  boil  for  half  an  hour  to 
make  the  air  pass  out  of  it.  Two  inches  of  this  water 
must  afterwards  be  exposed  to  a  very  cold  air  ;  and, 
when  it  is  frozen,  the  extremities  of  the  ice  are  to  be 
melted  before  a  fire,  till  the  ice  acquires  a  convex, 
spherical  figure,  on  both  sides.  Then,  with  a  glove, 
presenting  this  kind  of  burning  mirror  to  the  sun,  and 
assembling  the  rays  by  refraetion  in  a  common  focus, 
fire  may  be  set  therein  to  fine  gun -powder. 

ICE  ISLANDS,  vast  bodies  of  ice  near  the  north  and 
south  poles,  which  never  thaw,  except  those  of  them 
that  happen  to  be  driven  into  warmer  latitudes.  There 
are  many  reasons  to  believe,  from  the  accounts  of  trav- 
ellers and  navigators,  that  the  islands  of  ice  in  the  high- 
er northern  latitudes,  continue  perpetually  to  increase 
in  bulk.  The  great  islands  of  ice  in  the  northern  seas, 
near  Hudson's  Bay,  have  been  observed  to  have  been 
immersed  above  one  hundred  fathoms  beneath  the  sur- 
face of  the  sea,  and  to  have  risen  a  fifth  or  sixth  part 
above  the  surface,  and  to  have  measured  between  three 
and  four  miles  in  circumference.  Some  of  these  ice 
islands  have  been  known  to  have  been  wafted,  both 
from  the  northern  and  southern  polar  regions,  into  the 
tropical  climates  :  on  one  of  them,  brought  from  the 
southern  pole,  the  British  ship  Guardian  struck,  near 
the  Cape  of  'Good  Hope,  December  £2,  1789.  These 
islands  when  wafted  into  the  tropical  seas,  are  involved 
iti  mist,  occasioned  by  the  vast  evaporation  from  the  ia- 


ICELAND-ICELAND  FALCON-ICHNEUMON.    179 

tense  heat  of  the  climate.  Mr.  Barkam,  about  the  year 
1718,  in  his  voyage  from  Jamaica  to  England,  in  the  be- 
ginning of  June,  met  with  ice  islands  coming  from  the 
north,  which  were  surrounded  with  so  great  a  fog  that 
the  ship  was  in  danger  of  striking  upon  them.  One  of 
them  measured  sixty  miles  in  length.— Philo.  Trans. 
Darwin. 

ICELAND,  an  island  in  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  north- 
west of  Scotland ;  three  hundred  miles  long,  and  one 
hundred  and  fifty  broad  ;  lyin°;  between  sixty -four  and 
sixty  six  degrees  north  latitude  ;  and  belonging  tu  the 
crown  of  Denmark.  For  two  months  together  the  sun 
never  sets ;  and  in  the  winter  it  never  rises  for  the  same 
space,  at  least  not  entirely.  Many  of  their  houses  are 
deep  in  the  ground  ;  but  they  are  all  miserable  huts, 
covered  with  skins.  About  the  end  of  the  eighth  and 
the  beginning  of  the  ninth  century,  the  Normans  made 
themselves  famous  by  their  predatory  excursions. — 
England,  Scotland,  Ireland,  the  Orkney  and  .Shetland 
islaads,  were  objects  of  their  depredations  ;  and  in  one 
of  their  piratical  expeditions  (A.  D.  861,)  they  discov- 
ered this  island,  which  from  its  lofty  mountains,  cover- 
ed with  ice  and  snow,  obtained  the  name  of  Iceland. — 
Morse,  Bdknap, 

ICELAND  FALCON,  a  noble  species  of  hawk,  and 
a  first  rate  in  respect  to  size.  Some  are  white,  and  oth- 
ers varying  in  colour.  The  king  of  Denmark  sends  an- 
nually into  Iceland,  to  buy  up  all  that  are  taken.  Fifteen 
dollars  are  allowed  for  a  quite  white  falcon  ;  ten  for  one 
not  quite  white  5  besides  a  gratuitous  allowance  to  each 
falcon  catcher  to  encourage  them  in  their  business. 
In  order  to  take  them,  the  Icelanders  strike  two  posts 
into  the  ground  at  a  small  distance  trom  eacli  other. 
To  the  one  they  tie  a  pigeon,  partridge,  or  fowl,  by  a 
small  line,  two  or  three  yards  long,  that  they  may  flut- 
ter, and  be  seen  by  the  falcon,  and  decoy  him  down  in- 
to the  snare  prepared  for  him. — Gent.  Juag. 

ICHNEUMON,  an  animal  of  the  weasel  kind,  bred 
chiefly  1,1  Sgypt.  It  has  the  strength  of  a  cat,  and  is 
more  nimble  aud  more  cunning  ;  it  easily  strangles  a 


180  IGNIS  FATUUS. 

cat  that  is  larger  than  itself.  It  takes  to  the  water  when 
in  danger,  and  will  live  a  considerable  time  under  wa- 
ter. More  expert  than  cats  in  catching  rats  and  mice, 
they  are  used  in  Egypt  for  that  purpose.  This  animal 
makes  war  with  great  courage  and  eagerness  upon  all 
kinds  of  serpents.  If  bitten  by  the  viper  or  the  asp,  it  uses 
a  certain  root  that  cures  the  poison.  Its  principal  ser- 
vice to  the  ancient  Egyptians  was  in  discovering  and 
destroying  the  eggs  of  crocodiles  ;  and  for  its  usefulness 
in  this  respect  it  was  worshipped  by  that  idolatrous  peo- 
ple as  a  deity, — Goldsmith. 

IGNIS  FATUUS,  or  Jack  ivith  a  lanthern,  a  flame- 
coloured  vapory  ball,  that  dances  over  bogs,  commonly 
about  six  feet  from  the  surface  of  the  ground.  Its  usu- 
al motion,  as  it  proceeds  forward,  is  a  constant  alternate 
rising  and  descending;  yet  it  keeps  about  the  same 
medial  distance  from  the  earth.  This  curious  body, 
which  has  often  frightened  the  benighted  travellers,  is 
thought  to  be  a  collection  of  vapor  of  the  putrescent 
kind,  charged  with  electric  matter.  Though  it  will^ip- 
proach  and  seem  to  follow  a  person,  it  retreats  when  he 
turns  and  pursues  it ;  and  cannot  be  overtaken  and 
caught.  This  may  be  owing  to  its  electric  nature  ;  for 
bodies  possessed  of  different  qualities  of  electricity  may 
be  made  to  attract  one  another  for  a  certain  space,  and 
then  repel  without  ever  coming  into  contact.  Lights 
of  this  kind  are  sometimes  observed  at  sea,  skipping 
about  the  masts  and  rigging  of  ships.  Doctor  Shaw,  in 
his  travels  to  the  Holy  Land,  gives  a  very  remarkable 
account  of  an  ignis  fatuus.  It  appeared  in  the  vallies  of 
mount  Ephraim,  and  attended  him  and  his  company  for 
more  than  an  hour.  Sometimes  it  would  appear  globu- 
lar, or  in  the  shape  of  the  flaine  of  a  candle  :  at  others 
it  would  spread  to  such  a  degree  as  to  involve  the  whole 
company  in  a  pale  inoffensive  light,  then  contract  itself, 
and  suddenly  disappear;  but  m  less  than  a  minute  it 
would  appear  again ;  sometimes  running  swiftly  along 
would  expand  itself  at  certain  intervals  over  more 
than  two  or  three  acres  of  the  adjacent  mountains.  The 
atmosphere 'that  evening  was  remarkably  thick  and  ha- 
zy.— Encyclopaedia,  et  cet. 


INDIAN  RAT— INDULGENCES.         181 

INDIAN  RAT.  This  sagacious  animal  lives  in  con- 
stant apprehension  from  his  neighbour,  an  animal  called 
dragon,  who  instinctively  owes  Trim  a  spite,  and  is  con- 
siderably the  largest  and  strongest  of  the  two.  There- 
fore in  order  to  circumvent  his  dread  foe,  the  rat  has 
recourse  to  this  stratagem.  He  makes  two  entrances  to 
his  cave,  the  one  small  and  proportioned  to  the  bulk  of 
his  own  body,  the  other  wider  at  the  surface,  but  which 
he  draws  narrower  by  degrees  till  towards  the  other  end, 
it  is  but  just  wide  enougli  to  admit  his  passing  through. 
Thus  prepared,  he,  whenever  the  invader  comes  in  si^nt, 
betakes  himself  with  all  speed  to  his  cave,  and  enters  it 
at  the  wide  mouth.  The  dragon  follows  close  at  his 
heels  ;  and,  eager  for  his  prey,  presses  with  all  his  might 
into  t\\z  funnel,  till  at  last  his  body  is  fast  wedged  in,  so 
that  he  is  not  able  either  to  advance  or  retreat.  The 
rat  now,  finding  his  formidable  enemy  in  a  condition 
neither  to  fight  nor  fly  ;  instantly  emigrates  from  his 
<;ave,  through  the  small  entrance,  and  falling  upon  his 
rear,  demolishes  him  at  his  leisure.  ^ 

INDULGENCES,  licences  from  the  Pope  of  Rome 
for  committing  sins  of  almost  every  description  and  de- 
nomination according  to  stipulated  prices.  They  were 
first  invented  by  Pope  Urban  II,  as  a  recompence  for 
those  who  engaged  in  the  crusades  5  and  the  pretend- 
ed principle  on  which  they  were  granted,  was  as  fol- 
lows :  According  to  the  doctrine  of  the  Romish  Church 
all  the  good  works  of  the  saints  over  and  above  all  that 
were  necessary  towards  their  own  justification  ;  are  de- 
posited, together  with  the  infinite  merits  of  JESUS 
CHRIST,  in  one  inexhaustible  treasury.  The  keys  of 
this  were  committed  to  St.  Peter,  and  to  his  successors 
the  Popes,  who  might  open  it  at  pleasure,  and  by  trans- 
ferring a  portion  or  this  superabundant  merit  to  any  par- 
ticular person,  for  certain  sums  of  money,  might  con- 
vey to  him  the  pardon  of  his  own  past  sins,  a  release  for 
any  one  in  whom  he  was  interested,  from  the  pains  of 
purgatory,  and  a  good  warrant  and  right  to  commit  sins 
in  future.  In  the  year  1518,  Pope  Leo  X,  wanting  mo- 
ney for  finishing  St.  Peter's  Cathedral  at  Rome,  pub- 
lished a  general  sale  of  indulgences.  They  were  pub- 
licly retailed  in  ale-houses  in  Germany,  where  their  pro- 

R 


182   INFLAMMABLE  AIR— INFLAMMABLE  EARTH. 

duce  in  particular  districts  was  rented  out,  in  the  man- 
ner of  a  toll  or  custom  5  and  a  man  could  purchase  for 
a  shilling,  an  indulgence  for  almost  any  crime.  This 
abominable  traffic  awakened  the  zeal  of  Martin  Luther, 
an  Augustin  friar ;  who  by  his  preaching  and  writings, 
shook  the  whole  fabric  of  the  Romish  Church. 

INFLAMMABLE  AIR,  a  kind  of  air,  which,  as  its 
name  imports,  is  liable  to  catch  fire  and  burn.  It  has 
been  found  to  be  twelve  times  lighter  than  common  air ; 
It  cannot  be  breathed  ;  it  is  generated  in  mines,  in  coal 
J)its,  in  subterraneous  caverns,  in  burying-grounds,  and 
places  where  dead  animals  are  exposed  to  putrifaction. 
The  white  dittany,  when  in  flower,  generates  so  great  a 
quantity  of  inflammable  air,  that  the  atmosphere  around 
it  has  been  observed  to  catch  fire.  In  swamps,  pools, 
and  other  stagnant  waters,  where  a  number  of  plants 
are  putrifying,  we  find  a  species  of  inflammable  air, 
\vhich  is  known  by  the  name  of  marsh-air,  or  most  com- 
monly is  called  ignis  fatUtts,  or  Jack  with  a  lantern, — 
Willich. 

INFLAMMABLE  EARTH,  a  kind  of  earth  that 
\vill  catch  fire  and  burn  like  a  taper.  In  some  parts  of 
Persia  the  earth  has  this  surprising  property,  that  by 
taking  up  two  or  three  inches  of  the  surface,  and  apply- 
ing a  live  coal,  the  part  which  is  uncovered  immediate- 
ly takes  fire  almost  before  the  coal  touches  the  earth  ; 
trie  flame  makes  the  soil  hot,  but  does  not  consume  it, 
nor  aftect  what  is  near  it  with  any  degree  of  heat.  If  a 
cane,  or  a  tube  of  paper,  be  set  about  two  inches  in  the 
ground,  confined  and  closed  with  earth  below,  and  the 
top  of  it  touched  with  a  live  coal  and  blown  upon,  im- 
mediately a  flame  issues  without  hurting  either  the  cane 
or  paper,  provided  the  edges  be  covered  with  clay ;  and 
this  method  they  use  for  light  in  their  houses,  which 
have  only  the  earth  for  floors.  Three  or  four  of  these 
lighted  canes  will  boil  water  in  a  pot,  and  thus  they 
dress  their  victuals.  Lime  is  burnt  to  great  perfection 
by  means  of  i;his  inflammable  earth ;  the  lime- stones 
must  be  laid  on  one  another,  and  in  three  days  the  lime 
is  completed.— Gent*  Mag. 


INK— INOCULATION— INQUISITION.     183 

INK,  a  black  liquor  used  in  writing,  generally  made 
of  an  infusion  of  galls,  copperas,  and  gum  arabic.  The- 
ancients  who  lived  before  the  invention  of  printing,  were 
much  more  attentive  to  the  making  of  ink,  than  trie  mo- 
derns ;  insomuch  that  manuscripts  that  were  written 
from  the  fifth  to  the  twelfth  centuries,  are  much  more 
plain  and  legible  than  the  writings  which  have  been 
preserved  only  two  or  three  hundred  years.  It  is  of 
the  utmost  importance,  that  records,  wills,  and  other 
valuable  papers,  which  cannot  be  printed,  should  be 
written  with  ink  of  a  durable  quality.  The  ink  of  the 
ancients  is  thought  to  have  been  composed  of  ivory 
black. — Encyclopaedia. 

INOCULATION,  the  transferring  of  distempers 
from  one  subject  to  another,  particularly  of  the  small- 
pox, and  cow-pox.  In  the  year  1721,  Dr.  Cotton  Math- 
er, one  of  the  ministers  of  Boston,  having  observed  in  a 
volume  of  the  Philosophical  Transactions,  printed  in 
London,  some  communications  from  Constantinople  and 
Smyrna,  giving  a  favorable  account  of  the  practice  of 
inoculation ;  he  recommended  to  the  physicians  of  his 
acquaintance,  (as  the  small-pox  was  then  beginning  to 
spread  in  the  town)  to  make  trial  of  inoculation.  They* 
all  declined  it,  excepting  Dr.  Boylston  ;  who  began  witht 
his  own  children  and  servants.  But  the  degree  of  odi- 
um which  he  drew  upon  himself  by  this  measure  is 
scarcely  credible ;  his  house  was  attacked  with  so  much 
violence,  that  he  and  his  family  did  not  consider  them- 
selves safe  in  it ;  he  was  assaulted  in  the  streets,  loaded 
with  every  species  of  abuse,  and  execrated  as  a  mur- 
derer. Benjamin  Franklin,  (since  so  celebrated*  who 
was  then  an  apprentice  in  the  printing  office  of  his  broth- 
er at  Boston,  employed  his  opening  talents  in  opposi- 
tion to  Boylston,  and  in  favor  of  the  deluded  party.— 
Miller.  See  VACCINATION. 

INQUISITION,  a  spiritual,  or  rather  diabolical  court 
in  Roman  Catholic  countries,  established  for  the  trial 
and  punishment  of  heretics.  This  court  was  founded 
in  the  twelfth  century  by  father  Dominic  and  his  follow- 
ers, who  were  sent  by  Pope  Innocent  III.  to  inquire  in- 
to and  extirpate  heresy  5  hence  they  were  called  inqidsi- 


1 84  INSECTS— IREL  ANB. 

tors.  It  was  the  custom  of  the  inquisition  to  array  those 
who  were  to  be  burnt,  in  flame  coloured  clothes,  on 
which  was  their  own  picture,  surrounded  with  figures 
of  devils.  In  the  year  1480  (in  the  reign  of  Ferdinand 
and  Isabella,  on  whom  the  Pope  had  conferred  the  title  of 
their  Catholic  Majesties]  the  ecclesiastical  tribunal,  call- 
ed the  court  of  inquisition,  was  established  in  Spain :  and 
six  thousand  persons  were  burnt,  or  expired  on  the 
rack,  by  order  of  this  bloody  tribunal,  within  four  years, 
after  the  appointment  of  the  first  inquisitor -general,  and 
upwards  of  one  hundred  thousand  felt  its  fury.  The 
unhappy  wretch  who  falls  under  suspicion  of  heresy,  is 
brought  bound  from  his  dungeon.  He  knows  not  his 
accusers,  nor  is  permitted  either  defence  or  appeal.  In 
vain  he  pleads  for  mercy.  The  rack  is  prepared  ;  the 
wheels  are  driven  round  ;  the  bloody  whip  and  hissing 
pincers  tear  the  quivering  flesh  from  the  bones ;  the 
pullies  raise  him  to  the  roof;  the  sinews  crack;  the 
joints  are  torn  asunder;  the  pavement  swims  in  blood. 
Ihe  unfeeling  inquisitor,  who  calls  himself  a  minister  and 
servant  of  Christ,  views  the  scene  with  no  other  emo- 
tion but  that  of  joy  and  exultation  !-It  is  a  matter  of  great 
joy,  that  the  horrible  court  of  inquisition  has  been  late- 
ly abolished  in  Spain  :  where  it  had  been  maintained  in 
all  its  terrors,  during  several  ages  and  centuries.—' 
Burgh,  et  cet*  See  GOA. 

INSECTS,  a  species  of  animal,  so  called  because 
their  bodies  seem  as  it  were  cut  in  two,  and  joined  to- 
gether only  by  a  small  ligature,  or  membrane.  Before 
the  time  of  Linnseus,  scarcely  more  than  two  hundred 
species  of  insects  were  known.  In  the  last  editions  of 
his  work  he  described  about  three  thousand  :  and  there 
are  now  known  more  than  twenty  thousand  species.— * 
Jlillen 

IRELAND,  an  island  in  the  Atlantic  Ocean  ;  lying; 
to  the  west  of  Great  Britain,  from  which  it  is  separated 
by  St.  George's  Channel ;  situated  between  the  fifty- 
first  and  fifty-sixth  degrees  of  north  latitude ;  and  ex- 
tending about  three  hundred  miles  in  length,  and  one 
hundred  and  fifty  miles  in  medial  breadth.  The  air  is 
mild  and  temperate  5  the  soil  is  fertile,  and  well  water- 


IRON.  185 

ed  with  lakes  and  rivers  $  it  is  a  country  exceedingly 
well  situated  for  foreign  trade,  and  has  many  secure 
and  commodious  bays,  creeks  and  harbors,  especially 
on  the  west  coast.  The  name  Ireland  (it  has  also  b^een 
called  Erin)  is  said  to  be  derived  from  the  word  Eir9 
in  the  Celtic  language  signifying  ivest.  Christianity 
was  first  introduced  into  Ireland,  about  the  middle  of 
the  fifth  century,  by  Patricius,  called  St.  Patrick,  a 
Scotchman  by  birth.  He  was  first  a  soldier,  and  then  a 
priest  5  he  landed  in  Wicklow  in  441,  converted  the 
Irish,  became  bishop  of  Armagh,  and  died  in  the  hun- 
dred and  twentieth  year  of  his  age.  The  first  invasion 
of  Ireland,  from  England,  was  in  the  year  1171  \  when 
Fitz-Stephen  and  Fitz-Gerald  crossed  the  sea  from 
Wales  with  about  three  hundred  men,  and  were  soon 
followed  by  earl  Strongbow  with  twelve  hundred  more. 
The  pretence  for  this  invasion  was,  that  O'Dermot,  an 
Irish  chief,  being  deposed  for  having  carried  off  the 
wife  of  O'Rourk,  another  chieftain,  he  (O'Dermot)  fled 
to  England,  and  solicited  the  assistance  of  Henry  II.  ta 
recover  his  dominions.  The  English  having  obtained 
foothold  in  Ireland,  continued  from  age  to  age  to  pro- 
ject new  expeditions  against  it,  till  at  last  James  I.  pos- 
sessed the  entire  dominion  of  that  island.  The  union 
lately  formed  between  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  it  is 
thought  will  meliorate  the  condition  of  the  latter.—* 
Douglas. 

IRON,  a  well  known  metal.  Though  lighter  than  all 
other  metals,  except  tin,  yet  considerably  the  hardest ; 
when  pure,  malleable,  but  in  a  less  degree  than  gold, 
silver,  lead,  or  copper.  It  is  more  liable  to  rust  than 
other  metals,  and  requires  the  strongest  fire  to  melt  it. 
Most  other  metals  are  brittle  while  they  are  hot;  but 
this  is  the  most  malleable  the  nearer  it  approaches  to 
fusion  :  it  is  the  only  known  substance  attracted  by  the 
loadstone.  The  benefits  to  mankind  from  this  singular 
substance  are  immense.  "  To  any  reflecting  person, 
(says  the  immortal  Locke)  it  will  appear  past  doubt, 
that  the  ignorance  of  savages  in  useful  arts,  and  their 
want  of  the  greater  part  of  the  conveniences  of  life,  in 
countries  which  abound  with  all  sorts  of  natural  plenty, 
may  be  attributed  to  their  ignorance  of  the  uianufac- 
B  3 


186  IRON  WOOD— IROQUOIS. 

ture  and  use  of  iron ;  and  that,  were  the  use  of  iron 
lost  among  the  most  learned  and  polished  nations 
in  the  world,  they  would  in  a  few  ages  be  unavoidably 
reduced  to  the  wants  and  ignorance  of  savages  ;  so  that 
he  who  first  made  known  the  use  of  that  one  mineral, 
may  be  truly  styled  the  father  of  arts,  and  the  author 
of  plenty."  As  iron  is  the  most  useful,  so  it  is  the  most 
common  and  plentiful  metal;  the  ore  being;  found  in 
great  abundance  in  various  parts  of  the  world. 

IRON  WOOD,  a  peculiar  kind  of  wood  in  China. 
The  tree  rises  to  the  height  of  a  large  oak  ;  but  it  dif- 
fers both  in  the  size  of  its  trunk  and  in  the  shape  of  its 
leaves.  Its  wood  is  so  exceedingly  hard  and  heavy,  that 
it  sinks  in  water  :  it  is  said  that  the  anchors  of  tlie  Chi- 
nese ships  are  made  of  it. — Winterbotham. 

IROQUOIS,  a  confederacy  of  Indian  nations  :  for- 
merly called  the  Five  Nations,  five  only  being  then  join- 
ed in  the  confederacy  ;  but  they  afterwards  consisted  of 
six  nations.  These  are  the  Mohawks,  Oneidas,  Ononda- 
gas,  Senecas,  Cayugas,  and  Tuscaroras  ;  the  latter  hav- 
ing joined  the  alliance,  about  the  year  1720.  Each  na- 
tion of  the  Iroquois  was  divided  into  three  families  of 
different  ranks,  bearing  for  their  arms,  and  being  dis- 
tinguished by  the  names  of  the  Tortoise,  the  Bear,  and 
the  Wolf.  Their  instruments  of  conveyances  were  sign- 
ed by  signatures,  which  they  made  with  a  pen,  repre- 
senting the  figures  of  those  animals.  Hence  there  ap- 
pears to  have  been  three  orders  of  state  among  them. 
When  the  Dutch  begun  the  settlement  of  New -York, 
all  the  Indians,  on  Long-Island  and  the  northern  shore 
of  the  Sound,  on  the  banks  of  Connecticut  river,  Hud- 
son's, Delaware,  and  Susquehannah  rivers,  were  in  sub- 
jection to  the  Five  Nations,  and  acknowledged  it  by 
paying  annual  tribute.  In  the  war  with  Great  Britain, 
these  nations  (inhabiting  the  northern  and  western  parts 
of  New-York)  were  allies  to  that  power;  and,  in  1779, 
they  were  entirely  defeated  by  the  American  troops, 
and  their  towns  all  destroyed.  The  Mohawks  and  the 
greater  part  of  {he  Cayugas  have  removed  into  Canada. 
The  residue  now  live  on  grounds  called  the  State  Re- 


ISINGLASS— ITALY.  187 

servations  ;  the  state  of  New-York  having  taken  these 
Indians  under  its  protection. — W.  Smith,  Morse. 

ISINGLASS,  a  preparation  from  different  species  of 
the  fish,  called  sturgeon  :  it  may  also  be  produced  from 
the  air-bladders  of  the  cod,  as  well  as  from  those  of 
other  fish  inhabiting  the  fresh  waters.  H.  Jackson  in- 
forms us,  in  his  Essay  on  British  Isinglass,  published 
about  the  year  1765,  that  its  yearly  consumption  in  the 
brewery  was  then  calculated  at  twenty -five  tons  weight, 
and  that  forty  thousand  pounds  annually  were  paid  for 
this  article  to  the  Russians.  There  is  also  a  transpar- 
ent substance,  called  isinglass,  that  is  found  adhering  to 
rocks,  and  lying  in  sheets  like  paper  :  most  of  it  is 
white,  some  is  yellow,  and  some  has  a  purple  hue.  It 
is  found  in  plenty  in  a  mountain  in  the  state  of  New- 
Hampshire,  about  twenty  miles  eastward  of  Dartmouth 
college.  During  the  American  revolutionary  war,  it 
was  used  instead  of  window-glass,  which  at  that  time 
was  very  scarce.  This  substance  is  particularly  valua- 
ble for  the  windows  of  ships,  as  it  is  not  brittle,  but  elas- 
tic, and  will  stand  the  explosion  of  cannon.  It  is  also 
used  to  cover  miniature  paintings,  and  to  preserve  mi- 
nute objects  for  the  microscope  :  for  lanterns  it  is  pre- 
ferable to  glass. — Domestic  Encyclopaedia,  Winterbot- 
ham. 

ITALY,  one  of  the  finest  countries  in  Europe  ; 
bounded  by  Swisserland  and  Germany,  the  Mediterra- 
nean Sea,  and  France.  The  cities  of  Italy  seem  to  have 
been  the  first  in  Europe  which  were  raised  by  com- 
merce to  any  considerable  degree  of  opulence.  Italy 
lay  in  the  centre  of  what  was  at  that  time  the  improved 
and  civilized  part  of  the  world.  The  crusades  too, 
though  by  the  great  waste  of  stock  and  destruction  of 
inhabitants  which  they  occasioned,  they  must  necessa- 
rily have  retarded  the  progress  of  the  greater  part  of 
Europe,  were  extremely  favorable  to  that  of  some  Ital- 
ian cities.  The  great  armies  which  marched  from  all 
parts  to  the  conquest  of  the  Holy  Land,  gave  extraor- 
dinary encouragement  to  the  shipping  of  Venice,  Genoa, 
and  Pisa,  sometimes  in  transporting  them  thither,  and 
always  in  supplying  them  with  provisions.  They  were 


1 83  JACKALL— JAMAICA. 

the  commissaries,  if  one  may  so  say,  of  those  armies  ; 
and  the  most  destructive  phrenzy  that  ever  befel  the 
European  nations,  was  a  source  of  opulence  to  those 
republics.  Such  Italy  was,  some  centuries  ago  ;  the 
first  nation  of  Europe,  in  civilization,  in  arts,  in  agri- 
culture, in  commerce,  and  in  wealth.  How  fallen  !-— 
Jldam  Smith. 


J. 

fj  ACKALL,  a  wild  and  ferocious  animal  of  the  dog 
kind.  It  is  said  to  be  of  the  size  of  a  middling  dog,  re- 
sembling the  fox  in  the  hinder  parts,  particularly  the 
tail ;  and  the  wolf  in  the  fore  parts,  especially  the  nose; 
its  colour  is  a  bright  yellow.  The  species  of  the  jackall 
is  diffused  all  over  Asia,  and  is  found  also  in  most  parts 
of  Africa.  Its  cry  is  a  howl,  mixed  with  barking,  and  a 
lamentation  resembling  that  of  human  distress.  The 
jackall  never  goes  alone,  but  always  in  a  pack  of  forty 
or  fifty  together.  These  unite  regularly  every  day  to 
form  a  combination  against  the  rest  of  the  forest  5  and 
nothing  then  can  escape  them.  They  not  only  attack 
the  living  but  the  dead.  They  scratch  up  with  their 
feet  the  new-made  graves,  and  devour  the  corpse,  how 
putrid  soever  :  and  while  they  are  at  this  dreary  work, 
they  exhort  each  other  with  a  most  mournful  cry,  re- 
sembling that  of  children  under  chastisement.  The  li- 
on, less  swift  than  the  jackall,  attends  to  its  call,  and 
follows  it  in  silence  at  some  distance  behind  ;  and,  com- 
ing up,  robs  it  of  its  prey  :  hence  the  jackal!  is  said  to 
hunt  for  the  Hon.— Goldsmith. 

JAMAICA,  one  of  the  West-India  islands,  belong- 
ing to  Great  Britain,  and  being  prodigiously  fertile  and 
productive  ;  situated  in  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  about  four 
thousand  miles  south-west  of  England  :  having  the  isl- 
and of  Hispanjola,  or  St.  Domingo,  at  the  distance  of 
thirty  leagues,  to  the  east,  and  the  island  of  Cuba,  about 
the  same  distance,  to  the  north  :  extending  one  hun- 
dred, and  fifty  miles  in  length,  and  about  forty  miles  ia 


JANIZARIES.  1S9 

medial  breadth  ;  the  centre  of  the  island  lies  in  about 
18°  12' north  latitude.  Besides  free  negroes,  people 
of  colour,  and  Maroons,  there  are  in  Jamaica  thirty 
thousand  whites,  ond  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
slaves.  The  native  inhabitants  of  this  island,  to  the 
number  of  sixty  thousand,  on  the  most  moderate  esti- 
mate, were  wholly  cut  oft* and  exterminated  by  the  Span- 
iards, not  a  single  descendant,  of  either  sex,  being  alive 
when  the  English  took  the  island  in  1655.  Port  Royal, 
once  the  capital  of  Jamaica,  was  formerly  a  place  of  the 
greatest  wealth  and  importance  in  the  West-Indies  ; 
but  is  now  reduced,  by  repeated  calamities,  to  three 
streets,  containing  about  two  hundred  houses.  This 
place  was  distinguished  for  its  rapid  rise,  extensive 
prosperity,  deplorable  wickedness,  and  fatal  catastro- 
phe. In  the  month  of  June,  1692,  happened  that  tre- 
mendous earthquake,  which,  in  two  minutes  time  de- 
stroyed a  great  part  of  the  town  of  Port  Royal,  and  sunk 
the  houses  in  a  gulf  forty  fathoms  deep.  Two  or  three 
hundred  openings  in  the  earth  might  be  seen  at  a  time  j 
in  some  whereof  the  people  were  swallowed  up ;  in  oth- 
ers the  earth  closing,  caught  them  by^the  middle,  and 
thus  crushed  them  instantly  to  death.  Others  opening 
still  more  dreadful  than  the  rest,  swallowed  up  whole 
streets  ;  and  others,  more  formidable  still,  spouted  up 
whole  cataracts  of  water,  drowning  such  as  the  earth- 
quake had  spared.  One  man  miraculously  escaped  ; 
and  on  his  tomb-stone,  at  Green  Bay,  in  Jamaica,  is  the 
following  inscription.  "  Here  lies  the  body  of  Lewis 
"  Galdy,  Esq.  who  departed  this  life,  at  Port  Royal,  the 
"  22d  of  December,  1736,  aged  eighty.  He  was  born 
"  at  Montpelier,  in  France,  but  left  that  country  fr?  his 
"  religion,  and  came  to  settle  in  this  island,  where  he 
"  was  swallowed  up  in  the  great  earthquake,  in  the 
"  year  1692,  and  by  the  providence  of  God,  was  by  an- 
4i  other  shock  thrown  into  the  sea,  and  miraculously 
"  saved  by  swimming,  until  a  boat  took  him  up.  He 
"  lived  many  years  after,  in  great  reputation,  beloved 
"  by  all  who  knew  him,  and  much  lamented  at  his 
"  death." — Goldsmith,  Bryan  Edwards. 

JANIZARIES,  an  order  of  infantry  in  the  Turkish 
armies  5  reputed  the  grand  seignior's  foot  guards.— • 


190  JANUS— JAPAN. 

About  the  year  1560,  the  sultan  Amurath,  grandson  of 
Othman,  the  founder  of  the  Turkish  empire,  in  order  to 
create  a  body  of  devoted  troops  that  might  serve  as  the 
immediate  guards  of  his  person  and  dignity,  command- 
ed his  officers  to  seize  annually,  as  the  imperial  proper- 
ty, the  third  part  of  the  young  males  taken  in  war.  Af- 
ter being  instructed  in  the  Mahometan  religion,  inured 
to  obedience  by  severe  discipline,  and  trained  to  warlike  . 
exercises,  these  youths  were  formed  into  a  regular  band, 
distinguished  by  the  name  of  Janizaries,  or  New  Sol- 
diers. Their  number  is  about  forty  thousand ;  they  are  of 
a  superior  rank  to  all  other  soldiers  :  at  the  same  time 
they  are  arrogant  and  factious  ;  and  this  military  body 
is  formidable  to  all  orders  of  the  state.  When  the  Jan- 
izaries were  first  organized,  Hagi  Bektaski,  a  man  high- 
Jy  reputed  among  the  Mahometans  for  his  holiness, 
gave  them  his  blessing,  and  cutting  off  one  of  the  sleeves 
of  the  fur -gown  which  he  had  on,  put  it  on  the  head  of 
the  leader  uf  this  new  militia  »  from  which  time  they 
still  wear  the  fur-cap. 

JANUS,  a  Roman  deity,  Represented  with  two  faces, 
looking  different  ways  ;  symbolically  denoting  (as  some 
say)  political  prudence,  examining,  at  the  same  time, 
the  past,  and  the  probable  future,  and  weighing  the  con- 
sequences to  be  hoped  or  feared  from  any  public  mea- 
sure. In  the  reign  of  Numa,  about  seven  hundred 
years  before  our  Saviour's  nativity,  a  temple  was  built 
to  Janus  at  Rome.  This  temple  was  shut  in  peace, 
and  left  open  during  war  :  at  the  time  when  the  Prince 
of  Peace  was  born  into  the  world,  the  temple  of  Janus 
was  shut. 

JAPAN,  an  empire,  consisting  of  three  large,  and 
many  small  islands,  lying  eastward  of  China.  The  gov- 
ernment is  ancient,  regular,  and  despotic  ;  the  country 
is  fertile,  rich,  and  populous ;  the  people  ingenious,  in- 
dustrious, and  commercial,  but  invincibly  attached  to 
home.  The  commodities  which  these  islands  yield  are 
the  same  that  are  brought  from  China ;  namely,  the  fin- 
est of  porcelain,  varnish  and  teas,  silk  and  cotton  manu- 


factures, medicinal  roots  and  gums,  gold,  pearls,  coral, 
and  ambergris.     Postlewait  affirms,  uu 


70 'I '        „     T       " 

,  that  the  teas  of  Ja- 


JAQUARr-  JAVA.  191 

pan  are  free  from  the  adulterations  practised  in  China. 
The  Japanese,  are  said  to  be  the  grossest  idolaters,  shy 
of  strangers,  rigorous  in  all  their  dealings  with  them, 
and  detesters  of  the  name  of  Christians.  About  the 
middle  of  the  sixteenth  century,  popish  missionaries 
from  Portugal  and  Spain,  were  sent  to  Japan,  and  met 
with  surprising  success  in  converting  the  Japanese  to 
the  Catholic  faith ;  which  spread  through  most  of  the 
provinces  of  the  empire,  and  was  openly  embraced  by 
many  of  the  princes  and  lords.  This  bright  prospect 
was  "at  length  overcast ;  and  the  issue  was  most  tragic^ 
al.  The  missionaries  were  accused  of  treasonable  plots 
to  subvert  the  state ;  and  against  them  and  all  their 
proselytes  and  adherents  a  bloody  persecution  arose, 
which  continued  for  many  years,  and  ended  in  their 
utter  extermination.  The  Christian  religion  has  ever 
since  that  time  been  held  in  the  utmost  abhorrence  at 
Japan. 

JAQUAR,  a  very  formidable  animal  that  infests  some 
of  the  southern  parts  of  America.  It  is  rather  larger 
than  a  panther,  with  hair  of  a  bright  tawney  colour. — 
The  top  of  the  back  is  marked  with  long  streaks  of 
black ;  the  sides  beautifully  variegated  with  irregular 
oblong  spots.  It  is  found  in  the  hottest  parts  of  South 
America,  is  very  fierce,  and  when  pressed  with  hunger, 
will  sometimes  venture  to  seize  a  man :  the  Indians  are 
much  afraid  of  it,  and  think  it  prefers  them  to  white 
people.  In  travelling  through  the  desarts  of  Guiana, 
(or  Surinam)  they  light  great  fires  in  the  night,  of 
-which  these  animals  are  much  afraid.—- VTinterbotham. 

JAVA,  an  island  in  the  Indian  Ocean ;  upwards  of 
six  hundred  miles  in  length,  and  from  sixty  to  eighty  in 
breadth ;  lying  about  midway  on  the  most  frequented 
road  from  Hindostan  to  China  and  Japan.  The  natives, 
who  resemble  the  Chinese,  are  considerably  numerous. 
The  island  yields  immense  quantities  of  pepper ;  it  pro- 
duces, of  flowers  and  fruits,  whatever  can  regale  the 
senses  :  in  the  mean  time  it  abounds  with  venomous  ser- 
pents, monstrous  tigers,  and  other  beasts  of  prey. — 
On  the  coasts  the  Dutch  have  several  establishments^ 


192  JERSEY,  NEW— JERUSALEM. 

ike  principal  of  which  are  Batavia  and  Bantam.     See 
BATAVIA. 

JERSEY,  NEW,  one  of  the  United  States  of  Amer- 
ica, situated  between  39°  and  41°  24'  north  latitude; 
bounded  by  Hudson's  river  and  the  ocean,  and  by  Dela- 
ware bay  and  river,  which  divide  it  from  the  states  of 
Delaware  and  Pennsylvania  5  extending  about  150  miles 
in  length,  and  52  in  breadth.  The  inhabitants  are  a  col- 
lection of  Low  Dutch,  Germans,  English,  Scotch,  Irish, 
and  New-Englanders,  and  their  descendants.  "  The 
Swedes,  (says  Adam  Smith)  established  themselves  in 
New  Jersey;  and  the  number  of  Swedish  families  still 
to  be  found  there,  sufficiently  demonstrates,  that  this 
colony  was  very  likely  to  have  prospered,  had  it  been 
protected  by  the  mother  country.  But  being  neglected 
by  Sweden,  it  was  soon  swallowed  up  by  the  Dutch 
colony  of  New  -York,  which  again  in  1674,  fell  under 
the  dominion  of  the  English." 

JERUSALEM, «  a  city  of  Palestine  in  Asia ;  situat- 
ed about  forty-five  miles  south-east  of  the  Mediterrane- 
an Sea.  It  is  supposed  to  have  been  founded  by  Mel- 
chizedec,  arid  then  called  Salem.  It  was  formerly  the 
capital  of  Juclea  ;  it  was  taken  by  Nebuchadnezzar,  and 
the  Jews  its  inhabitants,  led  captive  to  Babylon.  Sev- 
enty years  after  the  nativity  of  our  Saviour,  it  was  taken 
and  destroyed  by  the  Romans ;  when  more  than  a  mill- 
ion wretched  Jews  perished  in  the  siege  and  capture  of 
the  city.  Near  the  ruins  of  the  ancient  Jerusalem,  the 
emperor  Adrian  built  a  new  city,  which  was  taken  by 
the  Persians,  in  614,  and  by  the  Saracens  (or  Arabians) 
in  636.  In  the  year  1099,  it  was  taken  by  the  crusaders 
from  Europe,  who  founded  a  new  kingdom,  which  last- 
ed eighty-eight  years,  under  nine  kings.  Saladin,  king 
of  Egypt  and  Syria,  gained  possession  of  Jerusalem,  in 
1187.  The  Turks  drove  out  the  Saracens,  1217,  and 
have  kept  possession  of  it  ever  since.  It  is  now  inhab- 
ited by  Turks,  Arabs,  Jews,  and  Christians.  It  is  situ- 
ated on  a  rocky  height,  with  steep  ascents  on  every 
side,  except  towards  the  north  :  it  is  about  three  miles 
in  circumference,  and  includes  Mount  Calvary,  which 
was  formerly  yvithout  the  walls,"  The  siege  of  Jeru- 


JESUITS— JESUITS'  BARK.  195 

salem  by  the  Romans,  its  capture  and  entire  destruc- 
tion, were  foretold  by  our  blessed  Saviour,  circumstan- 
tially, and  with  the  utmost  exactness. 

JESUITS,  a  monastic  order,  instituted  by  the  Pope 
of  Rome,  in  the  year  1536;  Ignatius  Loyala  being  at 
that  time  head  of  the  fraternity.  While  other  monks 
spent  their  time  in  cloisters,  these  were  remarkable  for 
their  activity  and  free  intercourse  with  the  world  ;  and 
none  were  admitted  into  the  order  but  persons  of  supe- 
rior cunning  and  parts.  The  Jesuits,  by  their  subtle 
arts  and  intrigues,  had  obtained  immense  influence  in 
all  the  popish  kingdoms.  To  them  was  generally  com- 
mitted the  education  of  the  children  of  the  princes  and 
nobility  5  they  were  consulted  in  all  important  matters 
of  church  and  state  ;  they  were  sent  abroad  as  missiona- 
ries ;  they  crrried  on  a  lucrative  traffic  in  South  Ameri- 
ca and  the  East-Indies;  and  being  always  united  among 
themselves,  and  seeking  incessantly  "the  aggrandize- 
ment of  their  order  without  regarding  means,  they  be- 
came a  most  powerful  and  dangerous  body.  In  the  year 
1762,  the  government  of  France  demanded  of  the  Jesuits 
the  rules  of  their  order,  which  they  had  hitherto  care- 
fully concealed.  That  mysterious  book  was  found  to 
contain  maxims  subversive  of  all  government,  and  even 
of  the  fundamental  principles  of  morals.  lu  conse- 
quence of  that  discovery  they  were  banished  the  king- 
dom. They  had  been  banished  from  England  in  1604; 
from  Venice,  in  1606;  from  Portugal,  in  1759;  they 
were  expelled  Naples,  1768 ;  and  in  1773,  the  order 
was  abolished  by  the  Pope  :  it  revived  in  Russia,  1783, 

JESUITS'  BARK,  or  Peruvian  Bark,  an  invaluable 
drug,  used  with  great  success  in  intermittent  fevers. 
The  tree  which  produces  it,  grows  chiefly  in  Quito,  a 
province  of  Peru.  It  is  about  the  size  of  a  cherry  tree, 
and  bears  a  kind  of  fruit  resembling  an  almond  ;  but  it 
is  only  the  bark  that  possesses  those  excellent  qualities 
for  which  it  is%  so  much  celebrated.  It  is  said  that  the 
medicinal  virtue  of  this  bark  was  discovered  in  the  fol- 
lowing manner.  Several  of  the  trees  were  felled  for 
other  purposes  into  a  lake,  when  an  epidemic  fever  of 
a,  very  mortal  kind  prevailed  at  Loxa,  in  Peru  5  and  the 

S 


194  JEWS. 

woodmen  accidentally  drinking  the  water,  were  cured. 
Some  Jesuits  carried  this  bark  to  Rome,  about  the  year 
1639. — Danvin,  et  cet. 

JEWS,  descendants  of  the  patriarch  Jacob.  No  na- 
tion on  the  globe  has  suffered  such  terrible  calamities., 
and  for  so  long  time,  as  the  Jews.  During  the  siege  of 
Jerusalem,  the  famine  was  so  distressing,  that  after  eat- 
ing their  horses,  dogs,  cats,  and  every  other  edible  sub- 
stance which  they  could  lay  their  hands  on,  some  even 
proceeded  to  eat  their  own  children.  In  the  siege  and 
capture  of  the  city,  more  than  a  million  are  said  to  have 
perished  by  famine  and  the  sword  5  and  several  hun- 
dred thousand  at  the  same  time,  in  other  parts  of  the 
province  of  Judea.  Titus,  the  conqueror  of  Jerusalem, 
carried  away  ninety  thousand  captives  ;  all  of  these  un- 
der seventeen  years  of  age,  he  ordered  to  be  sold  ;  and 
in  such  numbers,  that  thirty  of  them  were  commonly 
sold  for  a  small  piece  of  money.  The  emperor  Adrian, 
not  long  after,  slew  five  hundred  thousand  Jews;  innu- 
merable multitudes  also  he  sold  at  the  public  fairs. — 
Such  prodigious  numbers  were  exposed  to  sale,  that 
there  were  not  persons  enough  to  buy  them  ;  arid  they 
were  sent  into  confinement,  ^nd  that  so  strict  and  se- 
vere, that  they  died  by  thousands  together.  Some  were 
carried  to  Spain,  multitudes  fled  to  Babylon,  and  the 
east ;  they  were  scattered  over  all  the  face  of  the  earth. 
They  have  been  a  most  remarkably  suffering  people 
now  for  more  than  seventeen  hundred  years.  They 
have  been  greviously  persecuted  in  popish  countries, 
particularly  in  Spain  and  Portugal ;  almost  every  gov- 
ernment has  oppressed  them  5  Christians,  Mahometans, 
and  Pagans,  have,  by  turns,-  plundered  and  murdered 
them.  Still  they  have  kept  themselves  a  distinct  peo- 
ple, and  continue  to  observe  their  ancient  rites  and 
ceremonies.  All  this  is  justly  considered  as  a  most  re- 
markable fulfilment  of  scripture  prophecies,  and  indeed 
us  a  kind  of  standing  miracle.  It  is  remarkable  that  the 
Jews  in  the  East-Indies,  and  various  other  parts  of  the 
world,  are  now  looking  earnestly  for  the  speedy  resto- 
ration of  their  p'rivile^cs,  and  for  even  greater  manifes- 
tations of  the  divine  favor,  than  their  nation  had  ever  yet 
enjoyed  $  founding  thesa  hopes  upon  prophecies  of  the 


JIBOY A- JORDAN—JUDICIAL  ASTROLOGY.        195 

Old  Testament :  and  it  is  jet  more  remarkable,  tlata 
vast  number  of  enlightened  and  pious  Christians  are  at 
the  same  time  confidently  expecting  this  event,  from 
the  prophecies  both  of  the  Old  Testament  and  of  tire 
New. — Josephus,  et  ceteri. 

JIBOY  A,  an  enormous  serpent  of  Java  and  Brazil, 
\vhich  Legaut  affirms,  he  has  seen  fifty  feet  long.  Nor 
is  he  singular  ^n  this  respect,  as  many  of  the  missiona- 
ries affirm  the  same  ;  and  we  have  the  concurrent  tes- 
timony of  historians  as  a  further  proof.  The  largest  an- 
imal otthis  kind,  (the  skin  of)  which  has  been  brought 
into  Europe,  is  but  thirty-six  feet  long;  the  most  usual 
length  is  about  twenty  feet,  and  the  thickness  in  propor- 
tion. It  lies  in  wait  for  small  animals  near  the  paths, 
and  when  it  throws  itself  upon  them,  it  wraps  itself 
round  them  so  closely  as  to  break  all  their  bones  ;  then 
moistening  the  whole  body  over  with  its  slaver,  it 
makes  it  fit  for  deglutition,  and  swallows  it  whole.-— - 
Goldsmith. 

JORDAN,  a  small  river  in  Palestine,  often  mention- 
ed in  scripture.  Its  course  is  upon  the  borders  of  an- 
cient Galilee  ;  and  it  empties  into  the  Dead  Sea,  or  Sea 
of  Sodom.  It  is  generally  about  four  or  five  rods  wide, 
and  ten  or  twelve  feet  deep.  At  a  certain  season  of  the 
year,  it  overflows  its  banks,  owing  to  the  melting  of  the 
snows  on  Mount  Lebanon,  at  the  foot  ot  which  is  the 
head  of  this  river  :  it  then  forms  a  sheet  of  water  some- 
times a  quarter  of  a  league  broad.  At  the  time  of  its 
inundation,  its  waters  are  troubled,  and  of  a  yellow  hue, 
and  its  course  impetuous.—  Volney. 

JUDICIAL  ASTROLOGY,  the  pretended  art  of 
calculating  the  future  fortunes  of  persons,  from  the  par- 
ticular planet  that  ruled  at  the  time  of  their  birth.  This 
occult  science,  which  is  now  happily  exploded  except 
among  the  most  ignorant,  was  in  such  repute  even  so 
lately  as  the  seventeenth  century,  that  a  professed  as- 
trologer, at  the  court  of  Berlin,  received  applications 
from  the  most  respectable  houses  in  Germany,  Poland* 
Hungary,  and  even  from  England,  for  the  purpose  of 
consulting  him  respecting  the  future  fortunes  of  new- 


196  JUGGERNAUT. 

born  infants ;  acquainting  him  with  the  hour  of  their 
nativity,  and  requesting  nis  direction  as  to  their  man- 
agement. The  astrologers  pretended  to  have  the  art  of 
counteracting  the  influence  of  a  malignant  planet,  by 
removing  their  pupils  to  a  place  that  was  governed  by 
a  friendly  planet,  or  feeding  them  with  certain  kinds  of 
vegetables,  or  casting  medals  of  metal  to  be  worn  as 
amulets,  or  charms,  round  their  necks. 

JUGGERNAUT,  the  chief  idol  of  Hindostan  ;  near- 
ly resembling  the  Moloch  of  the  ancient  Canaanites, 
and  perhaps  differing  from  it  only  in  name.  The  rites 
of  Juggernaut's  worship  consis '  01  shocking  exhibitions 
of  obscenity,  and  his  chosen  libation  is  human  blood. — 
This  terrible  idol  has  his  principal  temple  in  a  town 
called  by  his  name,  situated  in  the  province  of  Orissa, 
which  now  is  subject  to  the  British  empire.  Thither 
pilgrims  resort,  not  by  thousands  merely,  but  by  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  as  well  from  the  remotest  as  from 
the  adjacent  parts  of  India.  As  you  travel  towards  the 
temple  of  Juggernaut,  the  toad  is  covered  with  pilgrims, 
before  and  behind,  as  far  as  the  eye  can  reach  ;  march- 
ing slowly,  with  their  wives  and  children,  under  a 
scorching  sun.  Some  you  see  stooping  with  age,  and 
others  labouring  under  mortal  distempers  5  yet  exerting 
the  utmost  of  their  little  remains  of  strength,  that  they 
may  reach  the  temple  of  their  god,  and  die  in  his  pre- 
sence. Others  perish  by  the  way,  and,  being  left  un- 
buried,  are  fed  upon  by  dogs,  jackalls,  and  vultures. 
Ere  you  come  witnin  fifty  miles,  you  know  it  to  be  the 
road  to  Juggernaut,  by  the  human  skulls  and  bones 
strewed  over  it.  When  arrived  at  this  region  of  the 
shadow  of  death,  the  habitation  of  the  idol,  you  behold 
the  walls  of  the  town  surrounded  with  numberless  squa- 
lid famishing  pilgrims,  with  clotted  hair  and  painted 
flesh,  practising  their  various  austerities  and  modes  of 
self-torture.  Upon  entering  the  town  (if  it;. be  the  great 
day  of  the  idolatrous  feast)  you  see  a  stupendous  car  or 
tower,  sixty  feet  in  height,  resting  on  wheels,  and  drawn 
by  me.n.  On  the  top  of  the  car  you  see  a  throne  sur- 
rounded with  priests ;  and  upon  the  throne,  a  block  of 
wood,  having  a  frightful  visage  painted  black,  with  a 
distended  mouth  of  a  bloody  colour.  It  is  Juggernaut .' 


JUNO—JUPITER.  197 

Instantly  the  welkin  rings  with  the  yell-like  acclama- 
tions of  innumerable  multitudes  of  men ;  the  females 
joining  the  chorus  in  a  kind  of  hissing  scream,  with  the 
lips  circular,  and  the  tongue  vibrating,  as  if  a  serpent 
were  speaking  by  their  organs.  The  horrors  of  the 
scene  now  thicken.  The  car  that  carries  the  idol  moves 
on,  and,  as  it  slowly  moves,  the  wheels,  prest  down  by 
the  ponderous  weight  above,  deeply  indent  the  ground. 
And  now  is  the  moment  for  the  devotees  of  Juggernaut 
to  pay  him  their  last  and  most  acceptable  homage. — 
They  fall  prostrate,  women  as  well  as  men,  before  the 
moving  wheels  which  support  his  throne,  and  are  crush--,, 
ed  into  the  earth.  Their  dead  bodies  are  cast  forth,  as 
a  prey  to  ravenous  beasts  and  birds  ;  polluting  the  at- 
mosphere, which  the  worship  of  Juggernaut  renders 
constantly  foetid  and  loathsome. 

"  Moloch,  horrid  king,  besmeared  with  blood 
*'  Of  human  sacrifice  and  parents'  tears." 

What  a  mercy  to  enjoy  the  light  of  the  gospel !  What 
matter  of  joy  that  the  Prince  of  Peace  is  erecting  his 
throne  in  India,  and  will  finally  establish  it  upon  the 
ruins  of  Juggernaut's  horrid  empire. — Buchanan's  Chris- 
tian Researches. 

JUNO,  or  Harding,  a  primary  planet  between  Mars 
and  Jupiter  5  it  was  discovered  by  Mr.  Harding,  of 
Germany,  on  the  first  of  September,  1804.  It  appears 
like  a  star  of  the  eighth  magnitude.  Its  distance  from 
the  sun  is  about  two  hundred  and  twenty -five  million 
miles ;  its  periodical  revolution  is  performed  in  fifteen 
hundred  and  eighty -two  d&ys-—Bowditch. 

JUPITER,  the  largest  of  all  the  planets  ;  being  ea- 
sily distinguished  from  them  by  its  peculiar  magnitude 
and  light.  Its  diameter  is  eighty-nine  thousand  one 
hundred  and  seventy  miles  ;  its  distance  from  the  sun 
four  hundred  and  ninety  million  miles ;  and  the  time  of 
its  periodical  revolution  is  four  thousand  three  hundred 
and  thirty -two  days  and  a  half.  Though  Jupiter  is  the 
largest  of  all  the  planets,  yet  its  diurnal  revolution  is 
the  swiftest,  being  only  nine  hours  and  fifty  six  minutes. 

S  2 


103  JURY— -KALMUCS. 

Jupiter  is  attended  by  four  satellites,  invisible  to  the  na- 
ked eye ;  but  through  a  telescope  they  make  a  beautiful 
appearance. — Bowditch. 

JURYr  a  company  of  men,  consisting  commonly  of 
twelve,  and  sworn  to  deliver  a  true  verdict  on  such  evi- 
dence as  shall  be  laid  before  them  respecting  the  cause 
they  are  to  decide.  This  admirable  institution  which 
has  been  almost  peculiar  to  the  English  nation  and  their 
descendants,  had  its  origin  about  a  thousand  years  ago9 
and  in  the  following  manner.  Alfred,  king  of  England, 
in  the  ninth  century,  divided  the  whole  kingdom  into 
counties  :  these  counties  he  subdivided  into  hundreds  ; 
and  the  hundreds  into  ty things  or  tenths,  over  which  a 
person  called  a  tything  man  presided.  In  smaller  dif- 
ferences the  tything  man  summoned  the  heads  of  the 
ten  families  under  his  jurisdiction,  to  assist  him  ;  but 
important  causes  were  brought  before  the  hundred,  who 
regularly  assembled  once  in  four  weeks  :  and  out  of 
these  hundred  householders  twelve  freemen  were  chos- 
en, who  having  sworn,  along  with  the  Magistrate  of  the 
hundred,  to  administer  justice,  proceeded  to  the  exam- 
ination of  the  cause  that  was  committed  to  them. — * 
Uussdl. 


K 


ALMUCS,  a  nation  of  Tartars,  who  inhabit  that 
part  of  the  Russian  empire  in  Asia,  which  lies  between 
the  river  Volga  and  the  river  Ural,  towards  the  Cas- 
pian Sea.  In  all  their  country,  which  is  immensely 
large,  there  is  not  a  house  to  be  seen  ;  as  they  all  live 
in  tents,  and  remove  from  one  place  to  another  in  quest 
of  pasturage  for  their  large  herds  of  cattle?  consisting  of 
horses,  camels,  cows,  and  sheep.  They  neither  sow 
nor  reap  ;  they  eat  no  bread,  nor  any  kind  of  vegetable* 
Their  food  is  mi|k,  flesh,  fish,  butter  and  cheese  :  they 
prefer  mare's-  milk,  and  horseflesh,  which  they  cook  by 
each  putting  a  piece  under  his  saddle,  and  riding  upon 
it.  They  wear  sheep-skin  coats,  with,  the  wool  on,  and 


KAMPTSKATKA— -KAYA.  19$ 

caps  of  the  same.  When  they  come  to  a  river,  they 
want  no  bridge  or  boat  to  help  them  across  ;  but  they 
plunge  in  with  their  horses,  and,  sliding  from  their 
backs,  hold  fast  by  the  manes  till  they  get  over  ;  and 
then  immediately  mount  again  and  proceed. — Walker. 

KAMPTSKATKA,  a  peninsula  of  Asia,  belonging 
to  the  Russian  empire,  and  separated  from  the  western 
coast  of  America  by  only  a  narrow  sea.  The  peninsu- 
la of  Kamptskatka  is  situated  on  the  eastern  coast  of 
Asia,  and  extends  from  52°  to  61°  north  latitude  ;  its 
greatest  breadth  being  about  two  hundred  and  thirty -six 
miles.  Sometimes,  even  in  the  month  of  May,  this 
country  is  covered  with  snow,  from  six  to  eight  feet  in 
depth.  They  have,  properly  speaking,  no  spring  : 
from  October  to  the  beginning  of  June,  it  is  all  dreary 
winter  5  the  Kamptskadales,  notwithstanding,  think  that 
no  country  on  the  globe  is  equal  to  theirs.  In  Kampt- 
skatka there  is  a  remarkable  breed  of  dogs,  which  are 
used  for  transporting  persons  from  place  to  place.  The 
natives  make  use  of  these  dogs  for  the  draught,  as  oth- 
ers do  horses.  They  are  fed  chiefly  with  fish,  and  re- 
ceive their  meals  only  at  the  end  of  the  day's  journey. 
They  are  yoked  in  sledges.  The  length  of  the  body  of 
one  of  these  sledges  is  about  four  feet  and  an  half.  It 
is  made  of  light  tough  wood,  fastened  together  with 
wicker-work,  and  elegantly  stained  with  red  and  bli!e^ 
the  seat  being  covered  with  furs  or  bear-skins ;  it  is 
shod  with  the  bone  of  some  sea  animal.  This  sledge* 
which  usually  carries  only  one  person  and  his  baggage? 
is  drawn  by  five  dogs  ;  four  of  them  yoked  two  and  two, 
and  the  other  acting  as  a  leader.  They  go  with  amaz- 
ing swiftness  :  there  has  been  an  instance  of  a  despatch 
conveyed  in  this  manner,  two  hundred  and  twenty  miles, 
in.  twenty  -three  hours. — Cookers  Voyages. 

KAVA,  a  kind  of  pepper-plant,  rising  about  five  or 
six  feet  in  height,  and  bearing  large  heart-shaped  leaves, 
and  jointed  stalks.  From  the  roots  of  this  plant  the 
people  of  the  Friendly  Islands,  in  the  southern  Pacific 
Ocean,  obtain  a  spirituous  intoxicating  liquor,  w-hiclt 
they  extract  in  this  singular  manner.  The  roots  are 
UP  and  give11  to  the  servants  :  who  breaking  them 


£00  KELP— KENNEBECK, 

in  pieces,  scrape  the  dirt  oft;  and  each  chews  his  portion, 
which  he  afterwards  spits  into  a  piece  of  plan  tain -leaf* 
Those  who  are  to  prepare  the  liquor,  collect  these 
mouthfuls  of  spittle  together  and  deposit  them  in  a  large 
wooden  bowl,  adding  a  sufficient  quantity  of  water  to 
make  it  of  a  proper  strength.  The  better  sort  then 
quaff  this  delicious  cordial  ;  about  half  a  pint  usually 
being  put  into  each  cup,  as  sufficient  for  one  person. — 
Cookers  Voyage. 

KELP,  a  species  of  sea-weed,  which,  when  burnt, 
yields  an  alkaline  salt,  useful  for  making  glass,  and 
soap,  and  for  several  other  purposes.  The  kelp  is  first 
dried  in  the  sun,  and  then  burnt  in  a  kiln,  of  about  two 
feet,  or  less,  in  diameter.  In  this  is  burnt  a  small  par- 
cel of  the  herb,  and  before  it  is  reduced  to  ashes,  more 
is  thrown  on  till  the  kiln  is  full,  or  the  materials  are 
expended.  This  reduces  the  ashes  to  a  hard  and  solid 
cake,  or  to  a  sort  of  pot-ash,  by  the  heat  of  the  kiln,  and 
the  quantity  of  salt  in  the  herb.  The  landlords  in  Great 
Britain,  whose  estates  are  bounded  by  a  kelp  shore,  de- 
mand a  rent  for  the  profits  of  this  weed,  as  well  as  for 
their  cornfield. — Jimtr.  Mus.  «#.  Smith. 

KENNEBECK,  a  fine  river  which  rises  in  the  north- 
west part  of  the  province  of  Maine,  in  Massachusetts  ; 
and  flowing  in  a  southerly  direction,  falls  into  the  At- 
lantic Ocean  :  it  abounds  with  fish,  particularly  excel- 
lent salmon  and  shad.  This  river  forms  the  nearest 
sea-port  for  the  people  on  the  upper  part  of  the  river 
Connecticut ;  it  being  ninety  measured  miles  from  the 
upper  Cohoes,  on  Connecticut  river,  to  the  tide  water  in 
Kennebeck.  A  sensible  writer,  speaking  of  the  Kenne- 
beck,  and  the  country  adjacent,  says,  "  the  navigation 
of  the  river,  the  great  abundance  of  the  fish  it  contains, 
the  constant  healthiness  of  the  climate,  the  happy  se- 
verities of  the  winters  always  sheltering  the  earth  with 
a  voluminous  coat  of  snow,  the  equally  happy  necessity 
of  labor ;  all  these  reasons  would  greatly  preponderate 
against  the  softer  situations  of  Carolina  ;  where  man- 
kind reap  too  much,  do  not  toil  enough,  and  are  liable  to 
enjoy  too  fast  the  benefits  of  life." — Fanner^  Letters, 


KENTUCKY— KILDA,  ST.  £01 

KENTUCKY,  one  of  the  United  States  of  America  5 
bounded  north-westerly  by  the  river  Ohio,  east  by  Vir- 
ginia, southerly>by  the  state  of  Tennessee,  and  westerly 
by  the  Mississippi ;  extending  about  two  hundred  and 
fifty  miles  in  length,  and  two  hundred  in  breadth  :  Lex- 
ington is  the  capital.  The  Kentucky -country,  which  in 
the  Indian  language  signifies  bloody^  was  established 
into  a  separate  district,  in  1782.  The  falls  of  Ohio, 
which  are  about  the  mean  climate  of  this  state,  are  sit- 
uated in  S7°  SO'  north  latitude  ;  but  the  country  is  much 
more  serene  and  temperate  than  could  be  supposed  from 
its  situation,  owing  chiefly,  perhaps,  to  its  great  remove 
from  the  northern  lakes.  Spring  approaches  early  in 
February  ;  and  by  the  beginning  of  March  several 
shrubs  and  trees  begin  to  shoot  forth  their  buds.  The 
first  and  second  rate  lands,  are  from  one  to  several  feet 
deep  of  a  chocolate,  and,  in  some  places,  of  a  deep  mu- 
latto colour,  exempted  from  stones,  gravel,  or  sand,  on 
the  surface  ;  tying  generally  on  a  flat  limestone  quarry, 
from  three  to  six  feet  below  the  soil, — Morrison. 

KILDA,  ST.  a  small  island  of  Scotland,  being  one  of 
the  Hebrides :  the  inhabitants  live  chiefly  by  fishing  and 
catching  wild-fowls.  Perhaps,  of  all  the  shores  in  the 
world,  there  is  none  so  high  as  that  of  St.  Kilda,  which 
lias  been  found  to  be  six  hundred  fathoms  perpendicu- 
lar, above  the  surface  of  the  sea.  In  a  barbarous  age, 
lord  Grange  of  Scotland,  (one  of  the  Erskine  family) 
suspecting  that  his  lady  had  come  at  the  knowledge  of 
some  secret  state  papers,  and  would  divulge  their  con- 
tents ;  he,  together  with  his  son  conveyed  her  privately 
to  the  island  of  St.  Kild,  and  there  put  her  on  shore, 
and  left  her  to  shift  for  herself.  The  lady's  relations 
could  never  find  the  place  of  her  concealment  till  after 
her  death.  The  island  of  St.  Kilda  afforded  no  imple- 
ments for  writing,  and  the  lady's  history  could  never 
have  been  known,  had  she  not  worked  it  on  her  muslin 
apron  with  her  hair.  She  lived  thirty  years  in  this 
state  of  banishment.  After  her  death,  her  family,  by 
some  means  or  other,  got  possession  of  this  curious 
piece  of  workmanship.— -«/V.  Lon.  Review.  See 


SOS    KILLER— KINGBIRD— KINGFISHER. 

KILLER,  a  sea  animal,  comparatively  small,  but  of 
amazing  strength,  and  armed  with  powerful  teeth*  j  it  is 
a  terrible  enemy  to  the  whale.  A  number  of  them  are 
said  to  sarround  a  whale,  in  the  same  manner  as  dogs 
get  round  a  bull.  Some  attack  it  with  their  teeth  be- 
hind ;  others  attempt  it  before  5  until,  at  last,  the  great 
animal  is  torn  down,  and  its  tongue  is  said  to  be  the  on- 
ly part  they  devour  when  they  have  made  it  their  prey.— 
Goldsmith. 

KINGBIRD,  an  American  bird,  too  well  known  in 
this  country  to  need  a  description.  J.  Hector  St.  John, 
a  farmer  of  Pennsylvania,  gives  us,  in  his  Farmer's  Let- 
ters, the  following  curious  story  of  this  bird.  "  At  the 
time  of  my  bees  swarming  (says  Mr.  St.  John)  the  king- 
birds came,  and  fixed  themselves  upon  the  neighboring 
trees,  from  whence  they  catched  those  that  returned 
loaded  from  the  fields.  This  made  me  resolve  to  kill 
as  many  as  I  could  ;  and  I  was  just  ready  to  fire,  when 
a  bunch  of  bees  as  big  as  my  fist,  issued  from  one  of  the 
hives,  rushed  on  one  of  the  birds,  and  probably  stung 
him  5  for  he  instantly  screamed  and  fiewr,  not  as  before 
in  an  irregular  manner,  but  in  a  direct  line.  He  was 
followed  by  the  same  bold  phalanx,  which  unfortunate- 
ly at  length  becoming  too  sure  of  victory,  quitted  tlieir 
military  array,  and  disbanded  themselves ;  and  no  soon- 
er did  he  perceive  their  disorder,  than  he  instantly  re- 
turned, and  snapped  up  as  many  as  he  wanted.  I  kill- 
ed him  and  opened  his  craw,  from  which  I  took  one 
hundred  and  twenty-one  bees.  I  laid  them  all  on  a 
blanket  in  the  sun,  and  to  my  great  surprize,  fifty -four 
returned  to  life,  licked  themselves  clean,  and  joyfully 
went  back  'to  the  hive." 

KINGFISHER,  a  bird  not  much  larger  than  a  swal- 
low ;  its  shape  is  clumsy  ;  the  legs  disproportion  ally 
small,  and  the  bill  disproportionally  long.  But  the  co- 
lours of  this  bird  atone  for  its  inelegant  form  ;  the  crown 
of  the  head  and  the  coverts  of  the  wings  are  of  a  deep 
blackish  green,  spotted  with  bright  azure  5  the  back 
and  tail  are  of  the  most  resplendent  azure  ;  the  whole 
under  side  of  the  body  is  orange -coloured  :  a  broad 
mark  of  the  same  passes  from  the  bill  beyond  the  e^ 


KINKAJOU— -KNIGHT.  803 

beyond  that  is  a  large  white  spot ;  the  tail  is  short,  and 
consijiof  twelve  feathers,  of  a  rich  deep  blue  ;  and  the 
feet  ire  of  a  reddish  yellow.  This  bird  is  one  of  the 
most  rapacious  little  animals  that  skims  the  deep.  It  is 
forever  on  the  wing,  and  feeds  on  fish :  it  chiefly  fre- 
quents the  banks  of  rivers,  and  takes  its  prey  by  bal- 
ancing itself  at  a  certain  distance  above  the  water  for  a 
considerable  space,  then  darting  into  the  deep,  and 
seizing  the  fish  with  inevitable  certainty.  While  it  re- 
mains suspended  in  the  air,  in  a  bright  day,  its  plum- 
age exhibits  a  beautiful  variety  of  the  most  dazzling  and 
brilliant  colours. — Goldsmith. 

KINKAJOU,  an  American  animal  resembling  a  cat, 
and  about  as  large,  but  better  formed  for  agility  and 
speed  than  for  strength.  His  tail  gradually  tapers  to 
the  end,  and  is  as  long  as  his  whole  body ;  his  colour  is 
yellow.  Between  him  and  the  fox  there  is  a  perpetual 
war.  This  animal  is  able  to  suspend  himself  by  twin- 
ing the  end  of  his  tail  round  the  limb  of  a  tree,  whereby 
lie  can  pursue  his  prey  where  cats  cannot  ;  and  when 
he  attacks  a  large  animal,  his  tail  enables  him  to  secure 
his  hold  till  he  has  opened  the  blood  vessels  of  the  neck. 
In  some  parts  of  Canada  these  animals  are  very  numer- 
ous, and  make  great  havoc  among  the  deer ;  nor  do  they 
spare  even  the  neat  cattle. — Wlnterbolham. 

KNIGHT,  a  person  advanced  to  the  degree  of  milita- 
ry rank,  which  took  its  origin  from  the  custom  of  the 
ancient  Germans,  who  used  to  present  their  youths  with 
a  shield  and  javalin  in  a  public  assembly,  as  soon  as  they 
were  capable  of  bearing  arms.  The  addition  sir  to  the 
names  of  knights,  was  from  sire,  which  in  old  French 
signifies  seignior,  or  lord.  A  gentleman  soldier  was 
made  a  knight  by  receiving  from  a  prince,  or  any  one 
belonging  to  the  order  of  knighthood,  a  gentle  blow  of 
a  sword.  It  was,  in  former  times,  a  point  of  honor  for 
a  knight  never  to  yield  to  any  one  below  that  dignity. 
Hence  when  the  English  commander,  the  duke  of  Suf- 
folk, in  a  battle  in  France,  was  obliged  to  yield  himself 
a  prisoner  to  a  Frenchman  called  Renaud,  before  he 
submitted,  he  asked  his  adversary,  whether  lie  was  a 
gentleman?  On  receiving  a  satisfactory  answer,  he  de- 


204    KNIGHTS  ERRANT— KNIGHTS  TEMPL4RS. 

manded,  whether  he  was  a  knight  ?  Renaud  replied* 
t^t  he  had  not  yet  attained  that  honor.  "  Thenf^make 
ySii  one,"  answered  Suffolk  ;  giving  him  the  blow'  with 
his  sword,  which  dubbed  him  into  that  fraternity  ;  and 
immediately  surrendering  himself  his  prisoner. — Stuart. 

KNIGHTS  ERRANT,  a  class  of  knights  who  were 
continually  travelling  from  place  to  place,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  relieving  oppressed  innocence.  Some  centuries 
ago.  when  the  nobility  of  Europe  lived  in  fortified  cas- 
tles, and  were  continually  making  war  upon  one  ano- 
ther ;  when  the  public  roads  were  infested  with  robbers 
and  assassins:  when  wives  and  damsels,  especially  the 
most  beautiful,  were  frequently  carried  oft' by  force,  and 
confined  in  some  fortified  castle  :  in  those  times  of  hor- 
rible anarchy,  the  ardor  of  redressing  wrongs  seized 
many  knights  so  powerfully,  that,  attended  by  esquires, 
they  wandered  about  in  search  of  objects  whose  misfor- 
tunes and  misery  required  their  assistance  and  suc- 
cor. And  as  ladies  engaged  more  particularly  their 
attention,  the  relief  of  unfortunate  damsels  was  the 
achievement  they  most  courted.  This  was  the  rise  of 
the  knights  errant,  or  wandering  knights  ;  whose  ad- 
ventures produced  those  extravagant  Romances  which 
Cervantes  ridiculed  in  his  inimitable  Don  Quixotte. — 
Thousands  of  years  before  this  the  Grecians  witnessed 
a  sort  of  knight  errantry.  Perseus,  Hercules,  and  The- 
seus, were  in  reality  knights  errant  in  ancient  Greece, 
about  thirteen  or  fourteen  hundred  years  before  our 
Saviour's  nativity.  There  was  then  no  travelling  with 
safety  from  one  district  to  another,  or  even  from  place 
to  place  within  any  particular  district.  Every  deep 
cave  was  the  den  of  some  savage  plunderer,  who  ob- 
structed social  intercouse,  and  preyed  without  remorse 
upon  the  surrounding  country.  And  then  it  was  that 
the  heroes  aforenamed,  stood  forth  as  the  champions  of 
oppressed  innocence  and  violated  beauty  ;  which  pro- 
cured their  deification  among  their  idolatrous  country- 
men. 

KNIGHTS  TEMPLARS,  a  religious  and  military 
order  of  knighthood,  which  took  its  rise  during  the 
fervor  of  tl)e  crusades.  The  first  knights  templars,  by 


KNOUT— KQRIAC3.  205 

their  zeal  and  valor  against  the  infidels,  had  made  rapid 
advances  in  credit,  authority  and  wealth  ;  and  theh^sp- 
ulent  successors  scorning  the  occupation  of  a  monas- 
tic life,  passed  their  time  wholly  in  the  fashionable 
amusements  of  hunting,  gallantry,  and  the  pleasures  of 
the  table.  The  mal-administration  of  Philip  IV,  of 
France,  occasioned  a  sedition  in  Paris ;  and  the  knights 
templars  were  accused  of  being  concerned  in  the  tumult. 
Philip,  who  was  equally  avaricious  and  vindictive,  deter- 
mined to'involve  the  whole  order  in  one  undistinguished 
ruin.  .  He  ordered  all  the  templars  in  France  to  be  com- 
mitted to  prison,  on  one  day,  charging  them  with  mur- 
der, robbery,  and  the  vices  most  shocking  to  nature. 
Many  of  them  perished  on  the  rack  ;  many  others  were 
burnt  alive  $  all  their  treasures  were  confiscated,  and 
the  order  was  abolished  by  Philip,  in  the  year  1311. — 
Russell. 

KNOUT,  a  horrible  cruel  kind  of  punishment  com- 
mon in  Russia.  In  what  is  called  the  double  knout^  tha 
hands  are  bound  behind  the  prisoner's  back,  and  the 
cord  being  fixed  to  a  pully,  lifts  him  from  the  ground, 
with  the  dislocation  of  both  his  shoulders  ;  and  then  his 
back  is  in  a  manner  scarified  by  the  executioner,  with 
a  hard  thong,  cut  from  a  wild  ass's  skin.  In  the  single 
knout,,  the  prisoner  is  stripped  naked  to  the  waist,  with 
the  wrhole  back  quite  exposed  to  the  strokes  of  the  exe- 
cutioner; who,  with  a  long  strap  of  leather  prepared  for 
the  purpose,  gives  a  stroke  in  such  a  manner  as  to  car- 
ry away  a  strip  of  skin  from  the  neck  to  the  bottom  of 
the  back.  Then  taking  aim  again  with  great  exact- 
ness, he  applies  a  second  blow  parallel  to  the  former; 
and  thus  proceeds  till  all  the  skin  of  the  back  is  cut 
away.  By  the  order  of  the  late  empress  Elizabeth,  this 
punishment  was  inflicted  on  Madam  Lapouchin,  a  court 
lady  of  exquisite  beauty  and  sweetness  of  manners,  for 
an  alleged  concern  in  a  conspiracy.  Her  tongue  was 
cut  out  immediately  after  the  punishment  of  the  knout 
was  inflicted ;  and  she  was  banished  to  Siberia. — Morse^ 
L*Mbe,  Cliappe. 

KORIACS,  an  Asiatic  nation  on  the  borders  of  Kampt- 
skatka,  tributary  to  the  Russian  empire.  According  t& 


206  KOWRY  SHELLS— KRAKEN. 

Walker's  account  they  were  formerly  very  numerous  5 
but^have  greatly  diminished  by  the  small-pox,  and  by 
frequent  contests  with  their  neighbors.  Some  of  them 
have  a  fixed  residence  ;  others  are  wanderers  :  their 
regular  occupation  is  hunting  and  fishing.  They  live 
on  dried  fish,  and  the  flesh  and  fat  of  the  whale  and  sea 
wolf,  together  with  that  of  the  rein-deer,  which  is  their 
favorite  dish :  they  greedily  devour  raw  flesh.  Their 
characteristic  features  are  sunken  eyes,  flat  noses,  and 
prominent  cheeks.  The  men  are  almost  entirely  beard- 
less :  the  women  carry  their  children  in  a  basket  arched 
over,  in  which  the  infant  is  placed  in  a  sitting  posture, 
and  sheltered  from  the  weather.  They  have  an  uncon- 
querable thirst  for  strong  liquors,  and  are  generally  ad- 
dicted to  drunkenness.  Two  remarks  are  here  obvi- 
ous :  the  first  is,  that  these  people  remarkably  resem- 
ble the  native  savages  of  America ;  and  the  second,  that 
the  continents  of  Asia  and  America,  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  the  Koriacs,  approach  so  near  together,  that  the 
passage  from  one  to  the  other  is  easy,  in  summer  by 
small  boats  or  canoes,  and  in  winter  on  the  ice. 

KOWRY  SHELLS,  a  species  of  shell-money,  so  ex- 
ceedingly small  in  value,  that,  in  Bengal,  about  two 
thousand  and  four  hundred  of  them  are  equal  to  a  shil- 
ling ;  and  yet  notwithstanding  the  exceeding  small  ness 
of  the  denomination,  some  article  in  the  market  may  be 
purchased  for  a  single  kowry.*— Rennet, 

KRAKEN,  a  monster  of  incredible  magnitude,  in  the 
Norwegian  sea  :  he  is  represented  as  appearing  in  size 
like  a  small  island,  and  as  rising  and  sinking  in  the  wa- 
ter very  slowly.  When  the  fishermen  find  a  more  than 
usual  plenty  of  cod,  and  the  water  to  be  shoal er  than 
could  have  been  expected,  they  judge  that  the  kraken 
is  at  the  bottom  ;  and  if  they  find  by  their  lines  that  the 
water  still  shallows  on  them,  they  know  that  he  is  ris- 
ing to  the  surface,  and  row  oft'  with  the  greatest  speed 
till  they  come  into  the  usual  soundings  of  the  place ; 
when  lying  on  their  oars,  in  a  few  minutes  the  monster 
emerges  :  in  a  short  time  he  sinks,  causing  such  a  swell 
or  whirlpool,  as  draws  every  thing  down  with  it.  He  is 
said  to  feed  on  cod,  and  other  fish,  which  constantly  sur- 


KURBULO— LAMA.  207 

round  him  in  great  abundance,  being  attracted  by  his 
excrements.  The  real  existence  of  an  animal  so  vastly 
disproportionate  in  bulk  to  all  others,  seems  incredible  : 
yet  its  existence  is  confidently  affirmed  by  bishop  Pont- 
oppidam,  in  his  Natural  History  of  Norway.  Milton 
must  have  meant  the  kraken,  in  the  following  lines  in 
his  Paradise  Lost. 

"  Him  haply  slumbering  on  the  Norway  foam 
44  The  pilot  of  some  small  night-foimder'd  skiff 
"  Deeming  some  island,  oft,  as  seamen  tell, 
41  With  fixed  anchor  in  his  scaly  rind 
"  Moors  by  his  side  under  the  lee,  while  night 
"  Invests  the  sea,  and  the  wish'd  morn  delays." 

KURBULO,  a  bird  of  the  size  of  the  sparrow,  var»- 
eusly  coloured.  It  inhabits  the  banks  of  the  river  Sene- 
gal in  Africa  ;  and  makes  its  nest  on  a  fluviatic  tree, 
the  leaves  of  which  are  thorny,  and  the  branches  pen- 
dent in  form  of  an  arch.  The  bill  of  these  little  birds  is 
very  long,  and  armed  with  teeth  resembling  a  saw. 
They  build  a  nest,  of  the  bulk  of  a  pear,  composed  of 
earth,  feathers,  straw,  and  moss  ;  and  attach  it  to  a  long 
thread,  suspended  from  the  extremity  of  the  branches 
which  project  over  the  river,  in  order  to  secure  it  from 
the  serpents  and  monkeys,  which  sometimes  contrive  to 
clamber  up  after  them.  Some  of  these  trees  contain  to 
the  number  of  a  thousand  nests. — St.  Pierre. 


L. 


JLjAMA,  an  animal  of  Peru  and  Chili,  resembling  the 
camel.  Like  the  camel  they  have  the  faculty  of  ab- 
staining from  water,  and  like  that  animal  their  food  is 
coarse  and  scanty.  They  travel,  though  slowly,  long 
journies  in  countries  impassable  to  most  other  animals, 
and  are  much  employed  in  transporting  the  rich  ores, 
dug  out  of  the  mines  of  Potosi,  over  the  rugged  hills 
and  narrow  paths  of  the  Andes.  They  lie  down  to  be 


20*  LAMAS— LAND  SLIPS. 

loaded,  and,  when  weary,  no  blows  can  excite  them  t'o 
quicken  their  pace.  They  neither  defend  themselves 
with  their  feet  nor  teeth  :  when  angry,  they  have  no  oili- 
er method  of  avenging  injuries  but  by  spitting.  They 
can  throw  out  their  saliva  to  the  distance  of  ten  paces  5 
and  if  it  fall  on  the  skin,  it  raises  an  itching,  accompa- 
nied with  a  slight  inflammation. — Wintzrbotkam. 

LAMAS,  the  priests  of  Thibet,  a  large  country  of 
Asia.  The  chief  priest,  or  grand  lama,  resides  on  a 
mountain.  He  passes  a  great  part  of  his  life  on  a  kind 
of  altar,  where  he  sits  motionless,  in  a  cross-legged  pos- 
ture, on  a  large  and  magnificent  cushion  ;  and  receives 
with  the  greatest  gravity  the  adoration,  not  only  of  the 
Thibetians,  but  also  of  prodigious  multitudes  of  strang- 
ers and  pilgrims,  who  undertake  long  and  difficult  jour- 
Hies,  that  they  may  worship  him  on  their  bended  knees, 
and  receive  from  him  the  remission  of  their  sins*  They 
are  persuaded  that  he  knows  the  secret  thoughts  of  men> 
and  that  he  is  immortal ;  dying  merely  in  appearance  5 
and  that  when  he  seems  to  die,  his  soul  and  his  divinity, 
only  change  their  place  of  residence,  and  pass  into  an- 
other body.— tWinterbotham. 

LAND  SLIPS,  the  loosened  fragments  of  hills  and 
mountains  sliding  down  upon  and  overwhelming  the 
rallies  below.  In  the  year  1618,  the  town  of  Fleurus,  in 
Italy,  was  buried  by  a  part  of  the  Alps  falling  on  it,  and 
twenty-two  hundred  persons  were  destroyed.  On  the 
17th  of  February,  1751,  Markeley  hill,  in  England,  was 
moved  from  its  situation,  and  continued  its  motion  for 
three  days  ;  during  which  time  it  carried  along  with  it 
the  trees  and  cattle  on  its  surface,  and  did  much  dam- 
age. A  similar  event  had  happened  in  England,  in  1583  ; 
when  a  field  of  three  acres,  with  the  trees  and  fences, 
passed  over  other  fields,  and  settled  at  the  distance  of 
some  miles  from  its  original  station.  Few  land  slips 
have  been  more  remarkable,  or  attended  with  more 
dreadful  consequences  than  the  following  which  lately 
happened  in  Swisserland.  The  sides  of  the  lofty  moun- 
tain called  Spitzenbull,  from  the  base  halfway  up,  were 
covered  in  the  most  romantic  manner  with  pastures, 
orchards,  houses,  and  dispersed  castles ;  farther  to- 


LAPLAND.  209 

wards  the  summit  were  meadows  and  forests ;  and  above 
all  a  Grand  Mp.  At  the  foot  of  this  mountain  was  a 
charming  and  fertile  valley,  in  which  stood  three  villa- 
ges, whose  inhabitants  were  distinguished  for  their  neat- 
ness, industry,  economy,  peaceable  demeanor,  and  pure 
morals.  On  the  2d  day  of  September^  1806,  after  an 
extraordinary  rain  of  two  whole  days,  a  singular  noise 
issued  from  the  bowels  of  the  mountain  ;  and  soon  af- 
ter its  dreadful  fall  commenced.  At  first  the  summit 
slid  slowly  down  to  a  certain  distance,  when  it  exploded 
like  a  mine  with  a  most  tremendous  noise,  accompanied 
with  a  smoke,  vapor,  and  flames  of  fire,  which  shot  into 
the  air  in  different  directions  with  the  rapidity  of  light- 
ning, and  spread  destruction  on  all  sides  over  that  beau* 
tiful  valley  5  burying  it  and  its  inhabitants,  in  the  twink^ 
ling  of  an  eye. — Paris  Journal^  et.  cet. 

LAPLAND,  a  country  belonging  to  the  crown  of 
Sweden,  and  situated  in  the  northern  parts  of  Europe  : 
it  is  reckoned  to  be  450  miles  in  length,  and  300  in 
breadth.  This  is  one  of  the  most  cold,  barren,  and  dis- 
mal countries  in  the  world  ;  yet  the  inhabitants  would 
not  exchange  it  for  any  other  portion  of  the  globe.  Most 
of  the  Laplanders  neither  sow  nor  reap  5  they  are  total- 
ly unacquainted  with  the  use  of  corn.  They  have  no 
trees  which  bear  fruit,  scarcely  any  edible  herbs  or  ve- 
getables; nor  do  they  possess  either  sheep,  goats,  hogs, 
cows  $r  horses.  During  the  short  summer,  the  Lap- 
lander lives  principally  on  the  milk  of  the  rein  deer.  In 
the  winter  he  kills  part  of  his  herds,  and  lives  on  the 
flesh.  Of  the  skin  he  makes  warm  garments  for  him- 
self and  family,  and  strews  them  thick  upon  the  ground 
to  sleep  on.  He  hunts  the  bear,  kills  him  with  his  bow 
and  arrows,  and  feasts  upon  his  flesh,  which  he  counts 
of  the  greatest  delicacy.  If  a  stranger  comes  among 
them,  they  lodge  and  entertain  him  in  the  best  manner 
they  are  able,  and  generally  refuse  compensation  for 
their  hospitality  :  they  will,  however,  accept  in  requital,, 
a  bit  of  tobacco,  as  they  are  immoderately  fond  of  smok- 
ing. The  Laplanders  make  use  of  skates,  which  are 
made  of  fir-wood,  of  near  three  feet  long,  and  half  a  foot 
broad  :  these  are  pointed,  and  raised  before,  and  tied 
to  the  foot  by  straps  of  leather.  With  these  they  skate 
T3 


£10  LATANA— LATITUDE. 

upon  the  icy  snow,  with  such  velocity,  that  they  rery 
easily  overtake  the  swiftest  animals.  They  make  use 
also  of  a  pole,  pointed  with  iron  at  one  end,  and  rounded 
at  the  other.  This  pole  serves  to  push  them  along,  to 
stop  the  impetuosity  of  their  motion,  and  to  kill  that 
game  which  they  have  overtaken.  In  these  exercises 
the  women  are  not  less  skillful  than  the  men.  Linnseus, 
the  celebrated  naturalist  of  Sweden,  in  speaking  of  the 
Laplanders,  with  whom  he  had  intimately  associated, 
in  his  travels  through  their  country,  breaks  out  into 
the  following  rapturous  encomium  on  their  manner  of 
life.  "  Happy  Laplander  !  you  live  contented,  in  your 
"  sequestered  corner,  to  a  cheerful,  vigorous,  and  long- 
"  extended  old  age  ;  unacquainted  with  the  innumera- 
"  ble  disorders  which  constantly  infest  the  rest  of  Eu- 
"  rope.  You  live  in  the  woods,  like  the  fowls  of  heaven 7 
66  and  neither  sow  nor  reap,  and  yet  the  beneficent  Deity 
"  hath  provided  for  you  most  bountifully.  Your  drink 
ft  is  the  crystal  stream ;  your  food  in  spring  fresh-taken 
"  fish,  in  summer  the  milk  of  the  rein  deer,  in  autumn 
<{  and  winter  the  Ptarmigan,  and  rein  deer's  flesh  newly 
"  killed,  for  you  use  no  salt,  neither  do  you  make  any 
"  bread,  and  are  a  stranger  to  the  poisons  which  lurk 
M  under  honied  cates. — Bay,  Goldsmith. 

LATANA,  a  beautiful  flowering  shrub,  that  grows  in 
Georgia  and  the  Floridas.  It  grows  in  coppices,  in  old 
fields,  about  five  or  six  feet  high.  The  flowers  are  of 
various  colours,  on  the  same  plant,  and  even  in  the  same 
Cluster  ;  as  crimson,  scarlet,  orange  and  golden  yel- 
low. The  whole  plant  is  of  a  most  agreeable  scent.— 
Eartram. 

LATITUDE,  the  distance  of  a  place  from  the  equa- 
tor, reckoned  in  degrees,  north  and  south ;  there  being 
90  degrees  of  latitude  from  the  equator  to  each  of  the 
poles.  It  is  observed  in  Captain  Cooke's  voyages  to  the 
.Pacific  Ocean,  that  there  is  an  equal  and  durable  influ- 
ence of  the  sun,  at  all  times  to  50  degrees  of  latitude  on 
each  side  of  the  line,  or  equator ;  and  that  at  SO  degrees 
of  latitude,  even  in  the  winter  season,  they  had  only  be- 
gun to  feel  a  sensatio^  of  cold  in  the  uiornjpgs  and  even- 


LAUREL— LAUREL  MAGNOLIA,  &c.     211 

ings.  Hence  it  appears  that  there  is  a  region  quite 
round  the  globe,  from  three  to  four  thousand  miles  wide, 
in  which  winter  is  not  known.  The  southermost  line 
of  the  United  States  (extending  to  the  31st  degree  of 
latitude)  is  but  one  degree,  or  Vixty  miles,  from  this 
region  of  perpetual  spring  and  summer. 

LAUREL,  a  poisonous  shrub,  common  in  the  Uni- 
ted States,  and  often  fatal  to  lambs.  The  distilled  wa- 
ter from  laurel  leaves,  is,  perhaps,  the  most  sudden 
poison  we  are  acquainted  with.  Two  spoonfuls  of  it 
have  been  known  to  destroy  a  large  pointer  dog  in  less 
than  ten  minutes.  In  a  smaller  dose  it  is  said  to  pro- 
duce intoxication  ;  on  this  account  there  is  reason  to 
believe  it  acts  as  opium  and  vinous  spirit.  It  is  used  in 
the  ratafia  of  the  distillers,  by  which  some  dram-drink- 
ers have  been  suddenly  killed. — Darwin. 

LAUREL  MAGNOLIA,  a  large  and  beautiful  tree, 
that  grows  on  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi,  and  of  the 
river  St.  Juan.  Their  usual  height  is  about  one  hun- 
dred feet,  and  some  greatly  exceed  it.  The  trunk  is 
perfectly  erect,  rising  in  the  form  of  a  beautiful  column, 
and  supporting  a  head  like  an  obtuse  cone.  The  flow- 
ers of  this  tree  are  the  largest  and  most  complete  of 
any  yet  known  :  when  fully  expanded  they  are  of  six, 
eight,  and  nine  inches  diameter.  They  are  on  the  ex- 
tremities of  the  subdivisions  of  the  branches  :  they  are 
perfectly  white,  and  expanded  like  a  full  blown  rose. 
In  the  autumn,  multitudes  of  red  berries  hang  down 
from  the  branches  of  these  trees,  suspended  by  white 
silky  threads,  from  four  to  nine  inches  in  length.  The 
berries  laave  an  agreeable  spicy  scent,  and  an  aromatic 
bitter  taste.  The  wood  when  seasoned  is  of  a  straw  co- 
lour, and  harder  and  firmer  than  that  of  the  poplar. — 
The  grape  vines  which  climb  these  trees,  are  frequent- 
ly nine,  ten,  and  twelve  inches  in  diameter  :  they  twine 
round  the  trunks  of  the  trees,  climb  to  their  very  tops, 
and  then  spread  along  their  limbs,  from  tree  to  tree, 
throughout  the  forest. — Bartram. 

LA  VERA  CRUZ,  the  grand  port  of  Mexico,  or 
New  Spain  $  situated  on  a  rock  of  an  island,  in  the  gulf 


31 s    LAWRENCE,  ST.— LAZARONI—LEAD. 

of  Mexico.  It  is  by  means  of  La  Vera  Cruz  that  Mex- 
ico pours  her  wealth  over  the  world,  and  receives  hi 
return  the  numberless  luxuries  and  necessaries  which 
Europe  affords  her.  To  this  port  the  fleet  from  Cadiz, 
called  the  Jlota,  consisting  01  three  men  of  war,  as  a 
convoy,  and  fourteen  large  merchant  ships,  annually  ar- 
rives about  the  beginning  of  November.  Its  cargo  con- 
sists of  almost  every  commodity  and  manufacture  of 
Europe.  From  La  Vera  Cruz  they  sail  to  the  Havanna, 
in  the  island  of  Cuba,  which  is  the  rendezvous  where 
they  meet  the  galleons,  another  fleet  which  carries  on 
the  .trade  of  Terra  Firma  by  Carthagena  and  of  Peru 
by  Panama  and  Porto  Bello.  When  all  are  collected 
and  provided  with  a  convoy  necessary  for  their  safety, 
they  steer  for  old  Spain. — ttrinterbotham. 

LAWRENCE,  ST.  one  of  the  largest  rivers  of 
North  America.  This  river,  beginning  at  lake  Ontario, 
and  extending,  in  a  north-east  course,  to  the  ocean,  is 
seven  hundred  and  forty -three  miles  in  length  :  it  meets 
the  tide  upwards  of  four  hundred  miles  from  the  sea. 
At  its  mouth  it  is  ninety  miles  wide ;  at  Cape  Cat,  which 
is  one  hundred  and  forty  miles  from  its  mouth,  it  is 
thirty  miles  wide  ;  at  Quebec,  which  is  nearly  four 
hundred  miles  from  its  mouth,  it  is  five  miles  wide  : 
up  to  this  distance  from  the  ocean,  the  river  is  naviga- 
ble for  ships  of  the  line.  At  and  near  Kingston,  which 
is  situated  at  the  head  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  that  is, 
seven  hundred  and  forty -three  miles  from  the  ocean,  the 
river  is  said  to  be  from  two  and  an  half  to  six  miles 
wide. — *flm.  Museum. 

LAZARONI,  a  beggarly  crew,  at  Naples  in  Italy,  to 
the  number  of  about  thirty  thousand  :  the  greater  part 
have  no  dwelling  houses^  but  sleep  every  night  in  sum- 
mer under  porticoes,  piazzas,  or  any  kind  of  shelter 
they  can  find  ;  and  in  the  winter  or  rainy  time  of  the 
year,  which  lasts  several  weeks,  the  rain  then  falling 
by  pailfuls,  they  resort  to  the  caves  under  Capo  di 
Monte,  where  they  sleep  in  crowds  like  sheep  in  a  fold. 
— -Morse. 

LEAD,  one  >of  the  softest,  most  ductile?  and  most 


LEBANON— LETTERS.  215 

heavy  metals  next  to  gold,  very  subject  to  rust,  dissolv- 
ed by  the  weakest  acids.  It  is  a  most  deadly  poison. 
Lead,  if  once  introduced  into  the  animal  system ,  though 
in  the  smallest  proportions,  cannot  be  removed  by  art : 
and  never  fails  to  produce  the  most  deplorable  dfects, 
such  as  palsy,  contraction  and  convulsion  of  tke  limbs, 
lameness,  weakness,  and  cholics.  Whether  tms  insid- 
ious and  deleterious  metal  be  communicated  by  inhal- 
ing its  vapors  through  the  lungs,  or  by  absorbing  them 
through  the  pores  of  the  skin,  the  effects  of  it  are  equally 
dangerous  and  fatal.  Hence  painters,  glazjers,  pot- 
ters, and  manufacturers  of  glazed  earth  ern  ware,  are 
greatly  exposed  ;  hence  too  the  danger  of  using  lead- 
en water  pipes,  or  tea-kettles  lined  with  lead,  as  this 
metal  is  easily  dissolved  with  acids  :  hence  also  the 
danger  of  modern  cosmetics,  which  being  mixed  with 
lead,  that  poisonous  substance  may  be  communicated 
to  the  fluids  through  the  skin.—-  Wiliich.  There  are  sev- 
eral mines  of  lead  in  Virginia  :  two  of .  them  have 
been  worked,  and  have  produced  sixty  tons  of  lead  in 
a  year. 

LEBANON,  a  mountain  in  Syria,  one  hundred  and 
ninety  miles  from  east  to  west  ;  and  on  the  north  it 
forms  the  boundary  of  the  holy  land.  This  mountain  is 
often  mentioned  in  the  sacred  scriptures,  and  celebrated 
for  its  lofty  cedars  :  it  was  here  king  Hiram  obtained 
the  cedar  trees  for  building  the  temple  of  Solomon. — 
Volney  represents  mount  Lebanon  to  be  exceeding  lof- 
ty, and  covered  with  snow  most  of  the  summer,  while 
tne  vallies  below  are  suffering  a  suffocating  heat.  On 
the  top  of  Lebanon  the  traveller  is  indulged  with  a 
prospect  astonishingly  sublime  :  his  imagination  is 
transported  from  Jerusalem  to  Antioch ;  rocks,  torrents, 
hill -sides,  villages  and  towns  are  presented  to  his  view, 
or  when  the  weather  happens  to  be  tempestuous,  he  be- 
holds the  clouds  wafted,  and  hears  the  thunders  roar 
under  his  feet. 

LETTERS,  the  characters  in  the  alphabet,  express- 
ing the  sounds  of  words.  There  is  no  account  of  using 
letters  before  about  the  time  of  Moses  ;  and  probably 
one  of  the  first  books  which  was  written  was  that  of  Job 


214  LIBRARY— LIFE  BOAT. 

the  Arabian,  who  is  thought  to  have  been  cotemporary 
with  Moses*  The  first  mention  of  a  public  or  national 
record  in  writing,  is  in  the  17th  chapter  of  Exodus  ; 
when  Joshua  having  defeated  the  armies  of  Amelek, 
the  Lord  said  unto  Moses,  write  this  in  a  book  for  a  me- 
morial. In  the  commonly  received  chronological  table, 
it  is  stated  that  Memnon,  the  Egyptian,  invented  letters, 
1822  years  before  Christ's  nativity,  or  251  years  before 
the  birth  of  Moses.  It  seems,  however,  uncertain., 
whether  letters  were  invented  by  the  Egyptians,  Pho2- 
nicians,  or  Arabians.  It  is  said  that  Sir  Isaac  Newton 
ascribed  to  the  Midianites,  the  honor  of  instructing  Mo- 
bes  in  the  art  of  writing,  during  his  abode  in  Arabia, 
with  Jethro,  his  father-in-law.  Moses  is  supposed  to 
have  written  the  book  of  Job,  in  the  wilderness  of  Ara- 
bia, during  the  time  that  he  kept  Jethro's  flock,  at  the 
foot  of  Mount  Horeb. 

LIBRARY,  a  large  collection  of  books,  either  public 
or  private.  The  first  public  library,  recorded  in  histo- 
ry, was  founded  at  Athens  by  Hypparchus,  five  hundred 
and  twenty-six  years  before  the  birth  of  our  Saviour  : 
the  second  \vas  founded  at  Alexandria,  in  Egypt,  by 
Ptolemy  Philadelphia,  two  hundred  and  eiglity-four 
years  before  Christ's  nativity  ;  and  it  was  burnt  when 
Julius  Ceesar  set  fire  to  that  city ;  by  which  catastrophe 
four  hundred  thousand  volumes  in  manuscript,  were 
said  to  have  been  destroyed.  A  second  library  was 
founded  at  Alexandria  by  Ptolemy's  successor,  and  was 
reputed  to  have  consisted  of  seven  hundred  thousand 
volumes,  which  was  totally  destroyed  by  the  Saracens, 
in  the  year  642.  The  largest  collection  of  books  in  the 
United  States,  it  is  said,  is  the  City  Library  of  Philadel- 
phia, which,  together  with  the  Loganian  Library  there, 
makes  in  the  whole. about  fifteen  thousand  volumes. — 
The  first  Circulating  Library,  in  London,  was  establish- 
ed by  a  Mr.  Wright,  a  bookseller,  about  the  year  1740. 
In  1800,  the  number  of  these  libraries  in  Great  Britain 
was  not  less  than  one  thousand. 


LIFE  BOAT,  a  boat  used  in  some  parts  of  Europe, 
to  save  the  lives  of  seamen  in  stormy  weather.  The 
particular  kind  of  life  boat,  the  construction  of  which 


LIFE  SCALE— LIGHT.  215 

is  recommended  by  the  Royal  Society,  is  thirty  feet  by 
ten,  with  a  flattish  bottom*  She  is  lined  with  cork  in- 
side and  outside  of  the  gunwale,  about  two  feet  in 
breadth,  and  the  seats  underneath  are  filled  with  cork 
likewise  ;  the  weight  of  the  cork  used  in  the  boat  is 
about  seven  hundred  pounds.  She  draws  very  little 
water,  and  is  able  to  carry  twenty  people.  The  boat  is 
able  to  contend  against  the  most  tremendous  sea  arid 
broken  water,  and  never,  in  one  instance,  has  she  failed 
of  bringing  the  crew  in  distress  into  safety. — Public 
Journal. 

LIFE  SCALE,  a  scale  for  calculating  the  probable 
value  of  life-leases,  and  life -annuities.  According  to 
the  calculations  of  De  Moivre  and  Dr.  Ilally,  eighty -six 
years  is  a  fair  estimate  of  the  ultimate  period  of  human 
life  ;  and  the  probabilities  of  life  (after  twelve  years 
old)  decrease  in  arithmetical  progression,  in  such  a 
manner,  that  out  of  a  certain  number  of  persons  of  the 
same  age,  one  dying  yearly,  the  whole  number  will  be 
extinct  at  the  age  of  eighty-six,  extraordinaries  except- 
ed.  Suppose,  for  example,  seventy-four  children,  of 
twelve  years  old  ;  after  the  expiration  of  one  year  (ac- 
cording to  the  ordinary  and  average  decrease)  there 
will  remain  seventy -three  ;  after  two  years  seventy- 
two  ;  and  so  on,  till  in  seventy -four  years,  that  is,  eigh- 
ty-six years  from  their  birth,  the  whole  number  will  be 
extinct.  According  to  this  principle  the  probability  ot 
living  a  year  longer,  at  the  age  of  twenty,  is  as  66  to  1  ; 
at  thirty,  as  56  to  1  ;  at  forty,  as  46  to  1  ;  at  fifty,  as 
36  to  1  ;  at  sixty,  as  £6  to  1  ;  and  at  seventy,  as  six- 
teen to  1  5  provided  the  person  in  question,  at  each  of 
these  periods,  begins  the  year  in  a  commonly  good  state 
of  health. 

LIGHT,  an  invisible  fluid,  which  renders  objects 
perceptible  to  the  sight.  The  velocity  of  light  is  al- 
most inconceivable,  though  its  motion  is  not  instantane- 
ous. The  particles  of  light  fly  nearly  two  hundred 
thousand  miles  every  second  of  time  ;  which  is  above  a 
million  of  times  swifter  than  a  cannon  ball.  And  as  the 
medial  distance  of  the  globe  we  inhabit,  is  about  ninety 
million  miles  from  the  sun,  (some  make  the  distance 


:2U>  LIGHTNING— LIMA. 

greater)  its  rays  travel  that  vast  distance  in  eight  min- 
utes and  a  quarter.  It  has  been  found  from  modern  ex- 
periments that  light  is  essentially  necessary  to  vegeta- 
tion.— Domestic  Encyclopaedia. 

LIGHTNING,  a  bright  and  vivid  flash  of  fire,  sud- 
denly appearing  in  the  atmosphere,  and  commonly  dis- 
appearing in  an  instant.  The  most  formidable  and  de- 
structive form  which  lightning  is  ever  known  to  assume 
is  that  of  balls  of  fire  :  these  carry  destruction  wherev- 
er they  fall.  The  next  in  destructive  effects,  is  that  of 
the  zig-zag  kind  ;  which  sometimes  makes  only  one 
angle,  sometimes  has  several  branches,  and  sometimes 
appears  like  the  arch  of  a  circle.  The  colour  of  the 
lightning  also  indicates  in  some  measure  the  degree  of 
its  power  to  do  mischief ;  the  palest  and  brightest  being 
the  most  destructive  ;  such  as  is  red,  or  of  a  darker 
colour,  commonly  doing  less  damage.  In  thunder 
storms  the  burning  vapor  explodes  before  the  clap  com- 
mences ;  the  flash  is  conveyed  to  us  at  the  rate  of  a 
hundred  and  ninety  eight  thousand  miles  in  a  second  5 
but  the  thunder  rolls  on  at  the  rate  of  only  thirteen 
miles  in  a  minute.  Hence,  when  we  hear  the  thunder, 
we  may  know  that  we  are  safe  from  the  lightning  ; 
which  must  have  passed  oft*  from  us  before  the  arrival 
of  the  sound.  And  by  this  comparative  calculation  of 
the  light  and  sound,  the  thunder  cloud  is  computed  to 
be  distant  about  one  mile,  when  we  see  the  lightning 
five  seconds  before  we  hear  the  thunder.  In  a  thunder 
storm  it  is  advisable  to  keep  at  some  distance  from 
trees  ;  and,  while  in  a  room,  to  avoid  the  fire-place,  fire- 
irons,  gilded  mouldings,  and  all  articles  containing  me- 
tallic ingredients. — Encyclopaedia,  et  cet. 

LIMA,  a  city  of  South  America,  and  the  capital  of 
Peru  :  situated  on  a  small  river  in  the  fertile  valley  of 
Ilimac,  near  the  Pacific  Ocean,  in  about  twelve  degrees 
south  latitude.  This  city  is  about  four  miles  in  length, 
and  two  in  breadth.  Some  of  the  houses  are  two  hun- 
dred feet  long,  and  proportionably  broad  ;  but  are  built 
low  on  account  of  the  earthquakes.  There  are  trees 
planted  all  round  their  houses,  to  keep  oft*  the  heat  of 
the  sun  ;  and  the  river  that  crosses  the  city  forms  ca- 


LION.  217 

nals,  which  run  to  most  of  the  houses,  and  water  their 
gardens.  The  churches  are  extremely  rich,  and  dis- 
play a  wonderful  magnificence  of  ornaments.  The  cit- 
izens are  so  rich,  that  when  the  viceroy,  sent  from  Spain, 
in  1682,  made  his  public  entrance  into  this  city,  they 
paved  the  street  he  was  to  pass  through  with  ingots  of 
silver.  The  inhabitants  are  said  to  be  equally  remark- 
able for  debauchery  and  superstition  ;  the  most  profli- 
gate of  them  thinking  they  can  atone  for  all  their 
crimes  by  hearing  a  mass,  or  kissing  the  robe  of  St. 
Francis  or  St.  Dominic.  The  most  terrible  earthquakes 
have  been  frequent  at  Lima  ;  a  circumstance  that  more 
than  countervails  its  immense  wealth  and  natural  ad- 
vantages. Three  fourths  of  this  city  was  laid  level 
•with  the  ground  by  an  earthquake,  in  the  year  1746.—- 
Walker,  et  cet. 

LION,  called  the  king  of  beasts.  The  largest  lions 
are  from  eight  to  nine  feet  in  length,  and  from  four  to 
six  feet  high  :  those  of  a  smaller  size  are  generally 
about  five  feet  and  a  half  long  and  about  three  feet  and 
a  half  high.  The  head  of  this  animal  is  very  thick,  and 
his  face  is  beset  on  all  sides  with  long  bushy  yellowish 
hair  :  this  shaggy  hair  extends  from  the  top  of  the 
head  to  below  the  shoulders,  and  hangs  down  to  his 
knees.  He  is  no  where  so  large  or  tierce  as  in  the 
burning  sands  of  Africa.  There  is  this  mark  of  gene- 
rosity in  the  lion,  that  he  takes  away  life,  not  to  gratify 
cruelty,  but  merely  to  satisfy  hunger.  As  Mungo  Park 
was  crossing  a  large  open  plain,  in  the  interior  parts  of 
Africa,  some  few  years  ago,  he,  together  with  his  guide, 
rode  very  near  a  large  lion,  which  lay  by  the  side  of  a 
bush,  wiih  his  head  couched  between  his  fore  paws. 
Mr.  Park  expecting  the  lion  would  instantly  spring  up- 
on him,  instinctively  pulled  his  feet  from  the  stirrups  to- 
throw  himself  oft*  on  the  opposite  side,  so  that  his  horse 
might  become  the  victim  rather  than  himself.  But  the 
generous  beast,  not  being  hungry,  quietly  suffered  them 
to  pass,  although  they  were  fairly  within  his  reach.-— 
The  arms  even  of  a  Hottentot  or  a  negro  make  them 
more  than  a  match  for  this  powerful  creature ;  and 
they  seldom  make  the  attack  without  coming  off  victo- 
rious. Their  usual  manner  is  to  find  out  Iris  retreat, 

U 


218  LIVE  OAK— LOADSTONE. 

and.,  with  spears  headed  with  iron,  to  provoke  him  to 
the  combat.  Four  men  are  reckoned  sufficient  for  this 
encounter  ;  and  he,  against  whom  the  lion  flies,  receives 
him  upon  his  spear,  while  the  others  attack  him  behind. 
The  lion  finding  himself  wounded  in  the  rear,  turns 
that  way,  and  thus  gives  the  man  that  first  attacked 
him,  an  opportunity  to  recover.  In  this  manner  they 
attack  him  on  all  sides  ;  until  at  last,  they  entirely  dis- 
able, and  then  despatch  him.  The  Romans  used  to 
tame  this  formidable  beast ;  and  Mark  Anthony,  we 
are  told,  rode  through  the  streets  of  Rome  in  a  chariot 
drawn  by  lions. — Encyclopaedia,  Park's  Travels,  Gold- 
smith. 

LIVE  OAK,  a  valuable  tree  that  grows  in  great 
abundance  in  the  Floridas.  Although  the  live  oak  is 
not  tall,  it  contains  a  great  quantity  of  timber.  The 
trunk  is  from  twelve  to  twenty  feet  in  circumference, 
rising  about  ten  or  twelve  feet  from  the  root,  and  then 
branching  into  four  or  five  great  limbs,  extending  in  a 
horizontal  direction,  sometimes  fifty  jmces  from  the 
tnfhk.  They  bear  a  great  quantity  of  small  acorns, 
from  which  the  Indians  extract  a  sweet  oil,  which  they 
use  in  their  cookery.  Bears  and  wild  turkeys  grow  ex- 
ceedingly fat  by  feeding  on  these  acorns. — Bartram. 

LOADSTONE,  or  the  Magnet,  a  kind  of  ferrugin- 
ous stone,  which  in  weight  and  colour  resembles  iron 
ore,  though  it  is  somewhat  harder  and  more  ponderous. 
Its  distinguishing  properties  are  its  attraction  of  iron, 
and  its  polar  inclination.  The  magnetic  needle,  or  arti- 
ficial magnet,  is  a  needle  touched  by  the  loadstone ; 
and  which,  fixed  in  the  mariner's  and  surveyor's  com- 
pass, points  towards  the  north  pole.  As  every  piece  of 
iron  which  was  made  magnetical  by  the  touch  of  a 
magnet  became  itself  a  magnet,  many  attempts  were 
made  to  improve  these  artificial  magnets,  but  without 
success,  till  Servington  Savary,  Esq.  of  Great  Britain, 
made  them  of  hardened  steel-bars,  which  were  so  pow- 
erful, that  one  of  them  weighing  three  pound  avoirdu- 
pois, would  lift  another  of  the  same  weight. — From  the 
year  1302,  the  directive  power  of  the  magnet  has  been 
employed  with  great  success  in  the  affairs  of  naviga- 


LOCUST— LOLLARDS.  £19 

tion  ;  but  the  first  account  we  have  of  any  variation  in 
its  direction,  was  by  Columbus,  in  the  year  1492,  in  his 
hist  voyage  to  America.  From  that  time  the  variation 
began  to  be  observed,  and  became  more  and  more 
known.  For  the  last  century  and  an  half,  mathemati- 
cians have  made  it  a  regular  part  of  their  business  to 
observe  it,  in  different  parts  of  the  earth  ;  with  the  an- 
nual alterations  that  are  constantly  taking  place.  In 
the  year  1723,  a  very  accurate  observer,  G.  Graham  of 
London,  discovered  that  the  magnetic  needle  had  a  di- 
urnal, as  well  as  an  annual  variation.  And  it  is  now 
well  known,  that  from  about  eight  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing, the  magnetic  needle  varies  to  the  west,  until  about 
two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  The  effects  of  these  va- 
riations are  at  all  times  such,  that  the  magnetic  needle 
can  never  give  to  the  surveyor  who  follows  its  direction* 
a  si-fright  and  accurate  line>— -Encyclopaedia,  Miller  ^ 
Williams. 

LOCUST,  an  insect  about  three  inches  long ;  having 
four  wings,  and  two  horns  about  an  inch  in  length. 
There  is  no  animal  upon  earth  that  multiplies  so  fast  as 
these,  or  that  is  so  dreadful  a  scourge  to  the  human 
race  :  famine  and  plague  are  often  the  consequence  of 
their  invasion.  Africa  is  the  native  climate  of  locusts  ; 
whence  they  fly  into  Asia  and  the  southern  parts  of  Eu- 
rope, desolating  whole  countries  and  putrifying  the  air 
with  their  dead  bodies.  Mr.  Park  informs  us,  that 
while  he  was  in  the  interior  of  Africa,  he  saw  locusts  in 
such  immense  quantities  that  the  trees  were  quite  black 
with  them;  that  they  devoured  every  vegetable  that 
came  in  their  way,  and  in  a  short  time  completely  strip- 
ped a  tree  of  its  leaves  :  that  the  noise  of  their  excre- 
ments falling  upon  the  leaves  and  withered  grass,  very 
much  resembled  a  shower  of  rain  5  and  that  when  a 
tree  was  shaken  or  struck,  it  was  astonishing  to  see 
what  a  cloud  of  them  would  fly  oft'. 

LOLLARDS,  the  followers  of  Wicklifte,  a  secular 
priest,  educated  at  Oxford  in  England  5  who,  in  the 
fourteenth  century?  preached  the  doctrines  of  the  re- 
formation from  popery :  his  followers  were  called  Lol- 
lards in  way  of  derision  and  contempt.  Wickliffe  died 


LONDON. 

In  peace ;  but  the  council  of  Constance  ordered  hi<* 
bones  to  be  burnt,  forty  years  after  his  death.  A  bloody 
persecution  against  those  reformers  was  begun  in  Eng- 
land, in  the  year  1400,  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VII.  A 
law  was  then  enacted,  that  when  any  heretic,  who  re- 
lapsed or  refused  to  abjure  his  opinions,  was  delivered 
over  to  the  secular  arm  bj  the  bishop  or  his  commissa- 
ries, he  should  be  committed  to  the  flames  by  the  civil 
magistrate,  before  the  whole  people.  The  first  that 
suffered  under  this  statute,  was  William  Sautre,  a  cler- 
gyman in  London.  He  had  been  condemned  by  the 
convocation  of  Canterbury;  his  sentence  was  ratified 
by  the  house  of  peers  ;  and  he  was  burned  at  the  stake, 
because  he  could  not  think  as  the  Romish  church  di- 
rected. The  execution  of  Sautre  was  a  prelude  to  fu- 
ture horrors  of  persecution. — Russell. 

LONDON,  the  metropolis  of  Great  Britain,  and  one 
of  the  largest  and  most  opulent  cities  in  the  world  :  it 
is  mentioned  by  Tacitus  as  a  considerable  commercial 
place  even  in  the  reign  of  the  Roman  emperor  Nero. 
London  spreads  itself  on  each  side  of  the  river  Thames  5 
extending  seven  miles  in  length,  (including  Westmin- 
ster and  Southwark)  and  about  three  miles  in  its  great- 
est breadth ;  and  containing  no  less  than  nine  hundred 
thousand  people.  Its  situation  on  a  fine  Bavigable  river 
that  is  seldom  obstructed  by  frost,  gives  it  every  advan- 
tage that  can  be  derived  from  a  sea-port,  without  its 
dangers ;  and,  at  the  same  time  it  enjoys  a  very  exten- 
sive communication  with  the  internal  parts  of  the  coun- 
try, which  supply  it  with  necessaries,  and,  in  return,  re- 
ceive from  it  such  commodities  as  they  require.  In 
the  seventeenth  century,  two  dreadful  events  befel  the 
city  of  London,  in  rapid  succession.  In  1665,  the  great 
plague  cut  off  ninety  thousand  people  ;  and  in  1666, 
thirteen  thousand  houses  were  consumed  by  fire.  Dur- 
ing the  plague,  pits  were  dug  to  receive  the  dead  ;  one 
of  these  pits  was  forty  feet  long,  sixteen  wide,  and  about 
twenty  feet  deep.  There  were  instances  of  mothers 
carrying  their  own  children  to  those  public  graves,  and 
of  people  delirious,  or  in  despair  for  the  loss  of  their 
friends,  who  threw  themselves  alive  into  those  pits.  It 
has  been  recorded  to  the  immortal  honor  of  Sir  John 


LONGEVITY.  2S1 

Lawrence,  the  then  lord  mayor,  that  he  continued  the 
whole  time  in  the  city ;  heard  complaints  and  redressed 
-them  $  enforced  the  wisest  regulations  then  known,  and 
saw  them  executed.  The  day  after  the  disease  was 
known  for  certainty  to  be  the  plague,  above  forty  thou- 
sand servants  were  dismissed,  and  turned  into  the  streets 
to  perish,  as  no  one  would  receive  them  into  their  hous- 
es ;  and  the  villagers  near  London  drove  them  away 
with  pitchforks  and  fire-arms.  Sir  John  Lawrence  sup- 
ported them  all,  as  well  as  the  needy  who  were  sick  ; 
at  first  by  expending  his  own  fortune,  till  subscriptions 
could  be  solicited  and  received  from  all  parts  of  tne  na- 
tion .^-Walker )  Darwin. 

LONGEVITY,  length  of  life.  The  following,  ex- 
tracted from  Mr.  Whitehurst  and  Dr.  Fothergill,  are 
among  the  most  remarkable  instances  of  longevity  dur- 
ing the  two  last  centuries.  Thomas  Parre  of  Shropshire 
in  England,  died  November  16,  1635,  aged  one  hundred 
and  fifty -two  years.  Henry  Jenkins  of  Yorkshire  in 
Englanu,  died  December  8,  1670,  aged  one  hundred  and 
sixty -nine  years.  James  Sands,  of  Staffordshire  in 
England,  died  about  the  year  1670,  aged  one  hundred 
and  forty  years.  The  countess  of  Desmond,  and  the 
countess  of  Eccleston,  both  of  the  kingdom  of  Ireland, 
died  about  the  year  1691,  the  former  aged  one  hundred 
and  forty,  and  the  latter  one  hundred  and  forty -three 
years.  Col.  Thomas  Wirislow,  of  Ireland,  died  August 
26,  1776,  aged  one  hundred  and  forty-six  years.  Fran- 
cis Consist,  of  Yorkshire  in  England,  died  Jan.  1768, 
aged  one  hundred  and  fifty  years.  Christopher  J.Dra- 
kenberg,  of  Norway,  died  June  24,  1770,  aged  one  hun- 
dred and  forty-six  years.  A.  Goldsmith,  of  France,  died 
June,  1776,  aged  one  hundred  and  forty  years.  Louisa 
Truxo,  anegress,of  Tucomea,  in  South  America,  was 
living,  October  5,  1780,  aged  one  hundred  and  seventy- 
five  years.  It  is  observable  that  but  few  persons  live 
to  extreme  old  age  in  crowded  cities  £  and  that  the 
most  remarkable  instances  of  longevity  have  been 
found  among  that  class  of  people  who  had  nothing  but 
plain  coarse  diet,  and  were  accustomed  to  daily  labor 
in  the  open  air.  Old  Parre,  for  instance,  had  been 
U  g 


LONG-ISLAND— LONGITUDE,  &c, 

used  all  his  life  to  the  coarsest  fare. — British  Encijd&- 
pcedia. 

LONG-ISLAND,  an  island  belonging  to  the  state  of 
New-York  ;  extending  north-east  from  near  the  city  of 
New-York,  almost  to  the  western  bounds  of  the  coast 
of  Rhode-Island  ;  and  is  separated  by  the  sound  from 
Connecticut,  whence  it  was  first  settled  :  it  is  one  hun- 
dred and  forty  miles  long,  and  its  medial  breadth  not 
above  ten  miles.  Dr.  Mitchill  mentions  it  as  a  proba- 
ble opinion,  that  Long -Island  and  the  adjacent  continent 
were,  in  former  days,  continuous,  or  only  separated  by 
a  small  river ;  and  that  the  strait  which  now  divides 
them,  was  formed  by  successive  inroads  of  the  sea  from 
the  eastward  and  westward.  Because  the  fossil  bodies 
on  both  shores  have  a  near  resemblance 5  because  the 
rocks  and  islands  lying  between,  are  formed  of  similar 
materials ;  because  in  several  places,  particularly  at 
White  Stone  and  Hell  Gate,  the  distance  from  land  to 
land  is  very  small,  &c. 

LONGITUDE,  the  distance,  east  or  west,  from  any 
given  point,  called  the  first  meridian.  By  the  French, 
Paris  is  made  the  first  meridian  :  the  English  make  the 
vieridian  of  London,  or  rather  the  Royal  Observatory  at 
Greenwich,  the  first.  There  are  one  hundred  and  eigh- 
ty degrees  of  longitude  :  a  degree  at  the  equator  being 
sixty  geographical  miles,  but  constantly  decreasing 
from  the  equator  to  either  of  the  poles.  In  order  for 
ascertaining  longitude,  the  British  parliament,  about  the 
year  1760,  decreed  the  reward  of  twenty  thousand 
pounds  sterling  to  the  inventor  of  a  time  piece,  which 
should  err  less  than  ten  leagues  (thirty  miles)  in  the 
space  of  about  six  weeks.  Mr.  Harrison's  time  piece, 
in  his  first  voyage,  going  and  returning,  erred  only  one 
minute,  fifty -four  and  an  half  seconds,  in  one  hundred 
and  forty-seven  days.  In  consequence  of  this  he  had  a 
moiety  of  the  reward,  though  by  the  letter  of  the  law  he 
was  entitled  to  the  whole. — 'Gentleman's  Magazine. 

LONG  KNIFE  INDIANS,  the  Virginia  savages, 
who  procured  to  themselves  this  name  by  a  most  horri- 
ble massacre  of  the  whites.  On  the  22d  day  of  March* 


LOOKING  GLASS—LOUISIANA.          223 

in  the  year  1622,  the  Virginia  Indians,  having  concert- 
ed the  plan  with  the  utmost  secrecy  and-*subtlety,  were 
distributed  in  parties  through  the  colony,  to  attack  eve- 
ry plantation,  at  the  same  hour  of  the  day,  when  the 
men  should  be  abroad  and  at  work.  Three  hundred  and 
forty -nine  people  fell  in  this  general  massacre  ;  of  which 
number  six  were  members  of  the  coumeiiv. ,-  The  unre- 
lenting severity  with  which  the  subsequent7 war  was 
prosecuted  by  the  colonists  against  the  Indians,  trans- 
mitted mutual  abhorrence  to  the  posterity  of  both  ;  and 
procured  to  the  latter  the  name  of  long  knife,  by  which 
they  are  still  distinguished  in  the  hieroglyphic  language 
of  the  natives. — Beiknap. 

LOOKING  GLASS,  a  glass  mirror,  which  being  over- 
spread on  the  inside  with  quicksilver,  exhibits  the 
images  of  such  objects  as  are  placed  before  it,  appar- 
ently at  the  same  distance  behind.  About  the  begin- 
ning of  the  fourteenth  century,  these  mirrors  were  made 
no  where  in  Europe  but  at  Venice ;  nor  was  it  till  late- 
ly that  large  ones  were  found,  unless  in  the  houses  of 
the  very  rich.  We  are  informed  in  Cooke's  voyages, 
that  nothing  could  exceed  the  pleasing  astonishment  of 
Lee  Boo,  the  young  prince  of  Pelew,  when  he  first  saw 
himself  in  a  large  looking  glass.  He  walked  backward 
and  forward,  to  the  right  and  to  the  left ;  he  threw  him- 
self into  various  attitudes,  still  fixing  his  eyes  upon  the 
image  that  seemed  to  mimic  all  the  changes  of  his 
motions  5  he  took  a  peep  at  the  backside  of  the  glass, 
to  see  if  there  were  nobody  behind  it.  It  was  all  en- 
chantment to  the  imagination  of  this  untaught  but  sensi- 
ble son  of  nature. 

LOUISIANA,  a  large  region,  lately  belonging  to 
the  crown  of  Spain,  but  purchased  by  the  government 
of  the  United  States  of  America  5  bounded  by  the  Mis- 
sissippi, on  the  east  5  by  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  on  the 
south  ;  by  New-Mexico,  on  the  west  5  and  extending 
indefinitely  to  the  north :  New-Orleans  is  the  capital. 
The  extent  of  this  territory,  on  the  western  banks  of  the 
Mississippi,  from  the  bay  of  Mexico  to  the  mouth  of  the 
Missouri,  is  about  twelve  hundred  and  thirty  miles  ; 
and  from  the  mouth  of  the  Missouri  at  the  Mississippi, 


224  LUNGS—MADAGASCAR. 

to  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia  at  the  Pacific  Ocean,  is 
said  to  be  three  thousand  five  hundred  and  fifty -five 
miles.  See  COLUMBIA  and  MISSOURI  RIVERS. 

LUNGS,  the  organ  of  respiration,  or  that  part  of  the 
body  by  which  breathing  is  performed.  It  is  a  melan- 
choly observation,  that  this  vital  organ  is  oftener  aft'ect- 
ed  with  mortal  disease  at  the  present  day,  than  in  for- 
mer times.  It  is  stated  in  Doctor  Willich's  Lectures, 
that  it  appears  from  the  London  bills  of  mortality,  that 
in  the  years  1776,  1777,  and  1778,  taken  on  an  average, 
jive  thousand  eight  hundred  and  fifty -three  persons  died 
annually  in  that  city,  of  disorders  in  the  lungs  ;  and 
that  the  consumption  and  other  pulmonary  complaints 
carried  oft'  every  year  about  eighty  thousand  people^  in 
the  island  of  Great  Britain.  As  a  cure  of  the  consump- 
tion, Doctor  Beddoes,  of  England,  recommends  a  tinc- 
ture of  the  vegetable  called  fox-glove.  The  beneficial 
action  of  this  remedy  is  said  to  consist  in  producing  a 
great  diminution  of  that  action  of  the  arteries  by  which 
the  ulceration  of  the  lungs  is  continually  increased  3  and 
in  so  augmenting  the  action  of  the  absorbents,  that  the 
purulent  matter  is  quickly  carried  away  by  them,  their 
proper  energies  are  fully  renewed,  and  the  ulcers  are, 
consequently,  healed.  As  a  preventive  of  this  dreadful 
malady,  the  consumption,  the  same  Dr.  Beddoes  gives 
the  following  directions.  "  Resume  the  flannels  and 
"  other  woollen  garments  of  our  ancestors  ;  diminish 
"  your  fires  5  throw  open  your  doors  and  windows  ;  re- 
"  turn  to  the  robust  and  manly  exercises  of  your  more 
"  vigorous  forefathers.  Abolish  the  whole  present  sys- 
"  tern  ot  female  dress,  education,  employments  and 
"  amusements  ;  and  give  us  again  the  hearty,  romping, 
"  beef-eating  lasses  of  good  Bess's  (or  queen  Eliza- 
"  beth's)  day." — New  London  Review, 


M. 


.MADAGASCAR,  a  large  island  in  the  Indian  sea, 
about  ninety  leagues  east  of  the  continent  of  Africa  $ 


MADDER— MADEIRA.  225 

extending  eight  hundred  miles  in  length,  and  from  one 
hundred  and  twenty  to  two  hundred  in  breadth.  The 
natives  are  friendly,  intelligent,  grateful,  and  hospita- 
ble 5  and  they  are  ingenious  artists.  "  These  amiable 
people  (says  Dr.  Morse)  are  torn  from  their  country, 
their  families,  their  parents,  their  children,  their  lovers, 
and  sold  in  thousands,  in  the  French  colonies,  (particu- 
larly in  the  isle  of  France)  and  more  cruelly  treated 
than  beasts  of  burden.  To  relieve  themselves  from 
their  insupportable  wretchedness,  they  gladly  meet 
death  :  they  often  hang  or  poison  themselves,  or  rush 
into  the  open  ocean  in  a  little  boat." 

MADDER,  a  plant  that,  in  Europe,  is  cultivated  in 
very  large  quantities  for  dying  red.  If  mixed  with  the 
food  of  young  pigs  or  chickens,  it  colours  their  bones 
red.  If  they  are  fed  alternate  fortnights  with  a  mix- 
ture of  madder,  and  with  their  usual  food  alone,  their 
bones  will  consist  of  concentric  circles  of  white  and  red. 
— -Phil.  Trans.  It  has  been  said,  in  some  respectable 
publications,  that  madder  might  be  raised  in  the  United 
States  to  great  advantage. 

MADEIRA,  an  island  in  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  one 
hundred  and  twenty  miles  in  circumference  ;  lying 
north-westerly  of  the  northern  coasts  of  Africa,  in  about 
thirty- four  degrees  of  north  latitude.  It  produces  sugar 
and  excellent  wine.  The  scorching  heat  of  summer, 
and  the  icy  chill  of  winter,  are  equally  unknown  here ; 
for  spring  and  autumn  reign  continually,  and  produce 
flowers  and  fruits  throughout  the  year.  When  the 
Portuguese  discovered  this  island  in  1419,  it  was  with- 
out inhabitants  arid  covered  with  wood :  yet  there  are 
proofs  of  its  having  been  inhabited  in  ancient  times.  A 
question  then  arises,  if  this  island  was  sometimes  inhab- 
ited, and  at  other  times  deserted,  what  became  of  its 
inhabitants  ?  It  must  have  been  some  uncommon  event 
which  could  induce  them  to  abandon  so  pleasant  and 
fruitful  a  country  without  leaving  a  single  family  behind. 
If  they  perished  in  the  island,  it  is  still  more  extraor- 
dinary ;  for  it  is  a  most  singular  circumstance  that  all 
the  inhabitants  of  any  place  should  be  destroyed,  and 
yet  the  place  itself  remain. — «/ffwe,  Belknap. 


226    MAELSTROOM— MAESE— MAGELLAN. 

MAELSTROOM,  an  extraordinary  and  dangerous 
whirlpool  on  the  coasts  of  Norway  :  the  name  Mad- 
stroom  being  said  to  signify  the  navel  of  the  sea.  The 
body  of  waters  which  form  this  dreadful  whirlpool  is 
extended  in  a  circle  above  thirteen  miles  in  circumfer- 
ence. In  the  midst  of  this  stands  a  rock,  against  which 
the  tide,  in  its  ebb,  is  dashed  with  inconceivable  fury  $ 
when  it  instantly  swallows  up  all  things  which  come 
within  the  sphere  of  its  violence.  When  the  stream  is 
most  boisterous,  and  its  fury  heightened  by  a  storm,  it 
is  dangerous  to  come  within  a  mile  of  it:  boats  and 
ships  having  been  carried  away,  by  not  guarding  against 
it  before  they  were  within  its  reach.  It  likewise  hap- 
pens frequently,  that  whales,  coming  too  near  the 
stream,  are  overpowered  by  its  violence  ;  and  are  heard 
to  roar  with  terror  at  perceiving  themselves  drawn  to- 
wards this  vortex. — Goldsmith. 

MAESE,  a  large  river  which  rises  in  France,  passes 
along  the  borders  of  Holland,  and  empties  into  the  Ger- 
man Ocean.  In  1421,  the  Maesc  having  burst  its  dikes, 
and  being  considerably  swelled  when  the  tide  came  in 
with  great  violence,  the  country  bordering  on  Dort  was 
overflowed  :  seventy-two  villages  were  overthrown,  and 
above  a  hundred  thousand  persons  perished.  In  the 
general  calamity  of  this  inundation,  an  infant  miracu- 
lously escaped  5  it  floated  in  its  cradle  on  the  water,  a 
cat  belonging  to  the  family  sitting  on  the  side  of  it. 
When  the  cradle  inclined,  the  cat,  in  a  panic,  leaped  on 
the  highest  side,  and  by  the  counterpoise  restored  the 
equilibrium.  This  was  perceived  from  the  land,  the 
cradle  was  waited  for,  and  the  infant  was  saved.  From 
this  infant  descended  a  respectable  family,  in  Holland, 
by  the  name  of  Van  der  Hoven. — Courtenvwix* 

MAGELLAN,  a  famous  strait  in  South  America; 
lying  between  the  extreme  southern  point  of  the  Amer- 
ican continent  and  the  island  of  Terra  del  Fuego,  and 
in  about  fifty -three  degrees  south  latitude.  In  the  year 
1518,  tins  strait  was  discovered  by  Ferdinando  Magel- 
lan, a  Portuguese,  in  the  service  of  Spain,  who  was  the 
first  navigator  that  sailed  round  the  world.  In  1520,  ho 
found  a  passage  through  this  strait  from  the  Atlantic  to 


MAHOMETANS— MAINE.  227 

the  Pacific  Ocean  ;  and  the  same  year  he  was  murder- 
ed by  the  inhabitants  of  the  Mariamne  islands. 

MAHOMETANS,  the  disciples  of  the  famous  im- 
postor Mahomet,  who  was  an  Arab,  or  a  descendant  of 
Ishmael.  Mahomet  was  born  at  Mecca  in  Arabia,  in  the 
year  of  our  Lord  575  ;  and  was  brought  up  to  the  busi- 
ness of  merchandize.  When  about  twenty-five  years 
of  age,  he  married  Khadijah,  a  rich  widow.  At  the  age 
of  forty,  he  betook  himself  to  a  cave ;  and  he  pretended 
to  have  had  in  this  recess,  familiar  conferences  with  the 
Supreme  Being,  and  with  holy  angels.  Here  he  com- 
posed the  Koran,  or  Alcoran.,  assisted,  as  has  been  said, 
by  Boheira,  a  Nestorian  monk.  His  first  care,  after 
emerging  from  the  cave,  was  to  convert  his  near  rela- 
tions and  his  domestics  to  the  faith  of  the  Koran  :  he 
then  became  bold  and  open  in  spreading  his  doctrines, 
which  so  exasperated  the  people  of  his  tribe  against 
him,  that  to  escape  assassination,  he  fled  to  Medina. 
His  followers,  nevertheless,  rapidly  increased  ;  and 
v/hen  he  found  himself  sufficiently  powerful  to  take  the 
field  against  his  enemies,  he  declared,  in  substance, 
that  God  had  commissioned  him  to  destroy  the  lives  of 
such  as  should  refuse  to  submit  to  the  Koran  ;  promis- 
ing, at  the  same  time,  the  voluptuous  joys  of  paradise 
and  eternal  scenes  of  sensuality  to  such  as  should  fall  in 
battle.  Mahomet,  having  created  at  Mecca  a  spiritual 
and  temporal  monarchy,  died  in  632,  aged  57;  and  his 
followers  soon  over-ran  a  great  part  of  Asia,  and  all  that 
part  of  Africa  which  was  under  the  Roman  dominion  ; 
and  at  length  they  subjugated  some  of  the  fairest  parts 
of  Europe,  now  called  Turkey.  The  Holy  Land,  and 
the  places  of  the  churches  to  which  the  apostles  wrote 
their  epistles,  are  all,  except  Rome,  under  the  dominion 
of  Mahometans. 

MAINE,  a  large  district,  belonging  to  Massachusetts ; 
situated  between  43°  and  48°  15'  north  latitude ;  bound- 
ed by  Lower  Canada,  by  the  province  of  New-Bruns- 
wick, by  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  and  by  New-Hampshire. 
According  to  Dr.  Morse,  its  length,  on  an  average,  is 
two  hundred  miles,  and  its  average  breadth  two  hun- 
dred miles.  Mr.  Sullivan,  in  his  history  of  the  district 


228  MAIZE— MALACCA. 

or  province  of  Maine,  makes  its  extent,  by  a  straight 
line  on  the  sea  coast  two  hundred  and  forty  miles,  and 
its  average  breadth ,  back  into  the  country,  ninety  miles. 
From  about  the  year  1630  to  the  year  1652  the  province 
of  Maine  had  a  separate  government:  it  then  came  un- 
der the  jurisdiction  of  Massachusetts^  and  was  incorpo- 
rated with  it  by  charter,  in  1691.  Three  hundred  and 
eighty -five  thousand  acres  of  land  in  this  district,  have 
been  granted  by  the  Legislature  of  Massachusetts,  for 
the  encouragement  of  learning,  and  for  other  benevolent 
purposes. 

MAIZE,  or  Indian  Corn,  a  most  excellent  kind  of 
grain  found  originally  in  North  America.  "  Maize 
considered  in  all  respects,  is  the  best  of  all  the  corns. 
It  is  food  for  most  animals,  and  its  plant  yields  a  great 
increase  of  grain.  As  a  food  to  man  it  is  remarkably 
wholesome  and  nourishing,  and  admits  of  the  greatest 
variety  in  its  preparations  ;  and  its  stalks  are  wholesome 
fodder.  Seasons  which  injure  other  crops  do  not  effect 
maize  in  the  same  degree :  the  raising  of  it  is  there- 
fore the  best  provision  against  famine  and  want."  It 
is  an  opinion  favored  by  experiments,  that  a  smaller 
quantity  of  the  meal  or  flour  of  maize  will  sustain  life, 
than  that  of  any  other  grain  which  is  known.  This  val- 
uable grain,  which,  in  past  ages,  was  scarcely  cultivat- 
ed, except  in  America,  has,  of  late,  been  introduced  in- 
to the  southern  parts  of  Europe,  and  some  other  coun- 
tries, and  is  fast  growing  in  credit  over  the  world. 

MALACCA,  a  peninsula  of  Asia  :  bordering  on  the 
Southern  Ocean  5  extending  six  hundred  miles  in  length, 
and  two  hundred  in  breadth.  It  is  famed  for  the  supe- 
rior excellence  of  its  pine  apples,  and  for  the  largeness 
of  its  cocoa-nuts,  which  have  shells  that  will  hold  an 
English  quart.  The  natives  of  Malacca  (an  ignorant 
and  barbarous  people)  are  in  the  practice  of  eating  a 
great  quantity  of  opium,  which  sometimes  occasions 
furious  intoxication.  Those  who  take  too  large  a  dose 
fall  into  a  paroxysm  of  rage,  from  which  death  alone  can 
relieve  them.  Such  is  the  fury  with  which  opium  in- 
spires them,  that  it  is  no  uncommon  thing  for  a  Malay- 
pirate  to  push  nimself  forward  against  the  lance  that  has 


MAMMOTH. 

entered  his  body,  in  order  to  be  able  to  get  at  his  ene- 
my, and  stab  him  with  his  krist,  which  is  a  crooked  and 
poisoned  poinard.  This  species  of  ferocity  obliges  ships 
in  danger  of  falling  in  with  them,  to  provide  themselves 
with  lances  that  have  a  guard  through  the  middle  of  the 
shaft ;  by  means  of  which  they  hold  them  at  a  distance 
and  suffer  them  to  die  at  the  end  of  the  weapon,  with- 
out daring  to  draw  it  out  till  those  furious  beings  havs 
breathed  their  last. — Grandpre. 

MAMMOTH,  an  animal  of  an  extraordinary  size. 
The  name  Mammoth  is  said  to  have  been  first  given  to 
this  animal  in  Russia  ;  and  that  it  is  a  corruption  from 
Jlfemoth,  a  word  derived  from  the  Arabic  ;  its  fossil  bones 
have  been  found  in  Siberia,  and  in  several  parts^of  the 
United  States  of  America,  particularly  on  the  Ohio,  and 
in  the  state  of  New- York  towards  the  lakes  ;  some  be- 
ing found  lying  on  the  surface  of  the  earth,  and  some  a 
little  below  it.  Naturalists  are  not  agreed  respecting 
the  genus  of  this  animal.  According  to  Dr.Miller,  Mr. 
Peale  of  Philadelphia,  proprietor  of  the  Museum  of  that 
city,  in  the  year  1781,  succeeded  in  obtaining  two  com- 
plete skeletons  of  the  Mammoth  dug  out  of  marl  pits,  in 
the  state  of  New -York ;  and  from  inspection  ot  these 
skeletons  it  appears  they  are  the  remains  of  elephants. 
On  the  other  hand  it  is  stated  in  Mr.  Jefferson's  Notes, 
that  the  skeleton  of  the  mammoth  bespeaks  an  animal 
of  five  or  six  times  the  cubic  volume  01  the  elephant; 
that  the  grinders  are  five  times  as  large,  are  square,  and 
the  grinding  surface  studded  with  four  or  five  rows  of 
blunt  points,  whereas  those  of  the  elephant  are  broad 
and  thin,  and  their  grinding  surface  flat ;  that  the  native* 
describe  this  animal  as  still  existing  in  the  northern  and 
western  parts  of  their  country,  and  affirm  him  to  be 
carnivorous.  It  is  not  easy  to  conceive  how  the  bones 
of  elephants  should  be  scattered  over  the  cold  regions 
of  Siberia,  and  in  North  America,  unless  their  carcases 
were  wafted  thither  by  the  general  deluge  ;  since  these 
animals  are  natives  of  the  hot  climates  of  Asia  and  Af- 
rica, and  if  even  there  were  no  seas  or  mountains  to 
prevent  their  excursions,  would  hardly  wander  a  vast 
distance  into  frozen  regions  where  they  cannot  live  ia 
winter  without  a  warm  shelter, 
V 


230  MARBLE—MARS. 

MARBLE,  a  kind  or  stone  found  in  great  masses, 
and  dug  out  of  quarries,  of  so  hard  and  compact  a  sub- 
stance, and  so  fine  a  grain,  that  it  readily  takes  a  beauti- 
ful polish,  and  is  used  in  statues,  chimney-pieces,  mon- 
uments, &c.  Goldsmith  asserts,  that  in  all  quarries  where 
marble  is  dug,  if  the  rocks  be  split  perpendicularly 
downwards,  petrified  shells,  and  other  marine  substan- 
ces, will  be  plainly  discerned.  The  Italian  marble  is 
among  the  best  in  the  known  world  ;  and  in  that  coun- 
try it  abounds  in  the  greatest  plenty.  The  coasts  of 
Italy,  it  is  said,  are  bordered  with  rocks  of  marble  of 
different  kinds,  the  quarries  of  which  may  easily  be  dis- 
tinguished at  a  distance  from  sea,  and  appear  like  per- 
pendicular columns  of  the  most  beautiful  kinds  of  mar- 
ble, ranged  along  the  shore.  Vast  quantities  of  white 
and  clouded  marble  are  found  in  the  rough  and  hilly 
parts  of  the  county  of  Berkshire,  in  Massachusetts:  it 
is  sawed  into  slabs,  by  water  mills  ;  hundreds  of  tons  are 
brought  yearly  to  Hudson's  River,  and  thence  carried 
to  various  sea-port  towns  in  the  United  States. 

MARS,  a  primary  planet,  whose  orbit  is"next  to  that 
of  the  earth.  Its  diameter,  according  to  Bowditch,  is 
four  thousand  one  hundred  and  eighty-nine  miles ;  its 
distance  from  the  sun  is  a  hundred  and  forty- four  mil- 
lion miles  5  its  periodic  revolution  is  performed  in  six 
hundred  and  eighty-seven  days;  it  revolves  round  its 
axis  in  twenty -four  hours  and  forty  minutes  ;  it  appears 
of  a  dusky  reddish  hue,  and  is  supposed  to  be  encom- 
passed with  a  very  great  atmosphere.  Mars  (tlionght  to 
nave  been  the  splendid  mansion  of  the  god  of  war)  was 
a  favorite  planet  among  the  old  Roman  warriors ;  and 
obtained  formerly  a  strange  kind  and  degree  of  respect 
among  soldiers  even  of  some  Christian  nations.  In  Dr. 
Willich's  Lectures  it  is  stated,  that  in  the  dark  ages  of 
superstition,  when  planets  were  thought  to  govern  the 
human  destinies,  the  German  soldiers  believed,  that  if 
the  figure  of  Mars,  cast  and  engraved  in  the  sign  of  the 
Scorpion,  were  worn  about  the  neck  as  an  amulet,  it 
would  render  them  invulnerable,  and  insure  success  to 
their  military  enterprises;  hence,  amulets  were  then 
found  upon  every  soldier,  either  killed  in  battle  or  taken 
prisoner. 


MARTIN— MARTIN,  ST.  2St 

MARTIN,  a  fur  animal,  abounding  in  Canada,  and 
found  in  some  parts  of  the  United  States,  particularly 
in  Vermont.  It  is  from  eighteen  to  twenty  inches  in 
length,  of  a  dark  brown  colour,  with  tinges  of  yellow; 
sometimes  the  colour  approaches  to  black.  These  ani- 
mals, which  are  more  common  in  North  America  than 
in  any  part  of  Europe,  are  found  in  all  the  northern  parts 
of  the  world.  In  every  country  they  are  hunted  for  their 
furs,  which  are  very  valuable,  and  chiefly  so  when  taken 
in  the  beginning  of  winter.  The  most  esteemed  part 
of  the  martin  skin,  is  that  part  of  it  which  is  browner 
than  the  rest,  and  stretches  along  the  back  bone. —  Wil- 
liams,  Goldsmith. 

MARTIN,  ST.  an  island  in  the  West- Indies,  about 
fifteen  leagues  in  circumference :  inhabited  by  about  six 
hundred  families  of  white  people,  consisting  of  French 
and  Dutch,  and  by  more  than  ten  thousand  slaves  ;  it  has 
no  streams  of  fresh  water,  but  abounds  with  salt  lakes 
and  salt  pits.  There  is  recorded  in  the  annals  of  phi- 
losophy, a  very  extraordinary  event  that  happened  at 
this  island  in  the  last  century.  On  the  18th  of  Novem- 
ber, 1755,  a  terrible  earthquake  shook  New  -England  \ 
and  about  nine  hours  after  this  earthquake,  (although 
there  was  no  shock  at  St.  Martins,)  the  sea  withdrew 
from  the  harbor,  leaving  the  vessels  dry,  where  there 
used  to  be  three  or  four  fathoms  of  water.  The  sea 
continued  out  a  considerable  time :  so  that  the  people 
retired  to  the  high  lands,  fearing  the  consequence  of  its 
return  ;  and  when  it  came  in,  it  ran  six  feet  higher  than 
usual,  so  as  to  overflow  the  low  lands.  The  earthquake 
in  New-England  passed  off  south- east  ward  into  the  At- 
lantic :  and  the  supposition  was,  that  in  passing  oft*  it 
made  an  eruption  underneath  the  ocean,  which  pressing 
in  on  all  sides  to  fill  up  the  vast  chasm  below,  caused 
the  sudden  retrocession  of  the  waters  on  the  shores  of 
St.  Martin ;  that  by  the  violent  pressure  of  the  sur- 
rounding ocean  towards  the  chasm,  the  waters  there 
v,  ere  at  length  raised  into  heaps,  and  a  sudden  reflux 
was  the  consequence ;  and  that  this  reflux  occasioned 
the  prodigious  tide  which  inundated  the  low  lands  of 
that  island. 


MARYLAND— MASSACHUSETTS  PROPER, 

MARYLAND,  one  of  the  United  States  of  America ; 
lying  about  Chesapeake  bay,  which  divides  it  into  two 
parts,  called  the  eastern  and  western  shores,  between 
37°  56'  and  39°  44'  north  latitude  ;  extending  one  hun- 
dred and  thirty-four  miles  in  length,  and  one  hundred 
and  ten  in  breadth,  according  to  Dr.  Morse,  but  Walker 
says,  it  is  one  hundred  and  seventy -four  miles  long,  and 
one  hundred  and  ten  broad  ;  bounded  by  Pennsylvania, 
the  state  of  Delaware,  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  and  Virgin- 
ia. Baltimore  and  Annapolis  are  the  principal  towns. 
Maryland,  which  received  its  name  in  honor  of  Henri- 
etta Maria,  the  consort  of  king  Charles  I.  was  granted 
by  Charles  to  George  Calvert,  Baron  of  Baltimore,  in 
Ireland,  in  the  year  1632.  After  receiving  the  charter, 
Lord  Baltimore  began  to  prepare  for  collecting  and 
transporting  a  colony  to  America;  and  in  1633,  he  sent 
over  about  two  hundred  persons,  of  good  families  and 
of  the  Roman  catholic  persuasion,  to  which  denomina- 
tion his  lordship  himself  belonged.  A  considerable 
part  of  the  inhabitants  of  Maryland,  from  that  day  to 
the  present  time,  have  been  Roman  catholics.  Leonard 
Calvert,  a  brother  of  Lord  Baltimore,  was  governor  of 
this  infant  colony ;  who,  by  his  prudence  and  humani- 
ty, so  conciliated  the  affections  of  the  Indian  natives, 
that  one  of  the  sachems  was  heard  to  say,  "  I  love  the 
English  so  well,  that  if  I  knew  they  would  kill  me,  I 
would  command  my  people  not  to  revenge  my  death ; 
because  I  am  sure  they  would  not  kill  me,  but  through 
iny  own  fault."  This  was  one  of  the  numerous  instan- 
ces of  the  gratitude  and  affection  of  the  Indians,  to- 
wards such  white  people  as  had  treated  them  with  jus- 
tice and  humanity. 

MASSACHUSETTS  proper,  (which  with  the  dis- 
trict of  Maine  constitutes)  one  of  the  United  States 
of  America,  is  situated  between  latitudes  41°  13'  and 
43°  5£'  north.  Its  greatest  length  is  one  hundred  and 
ninety  miles,  and  its  greatest  breadth  ninety  miles ;  and 
is  bounded  north  by  Vermont  and  New- Hampshire,  east 
by  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  south  by  the  Atlantic,  Rhode- 
Island,  and  Connecticut ;  and  west  by  New- York.  In 
1797,  this  state,  including  the  district  of  Maine,  owned 
more  than  on£  third  part  of  the  whole  shipping  that  be- 


MAST-PINE.  233 

longed  to  the  United  States.  Upwards  of  twenty-nine, 
thousand  tons  were  employed  in  carrying  on  the  fish- 
eries ;  forty-six  thousand  in  the  coasting  business  5  and 
ninety -six  thousand  jive  hundred  and  sixty -four  in  trad- 
ing with  almost  all  parts  of  the  world.  The  chief  towns 
in  this  state,  besides  Boston,  are  Salem,  Portland,  New- 
buryport,  Charlestown,  Cambridge,  Worcester,  Plym- 
outh, Northampton,  and  Springfield.  More  navigation 
is  owned,  and  more  trade  is  carried  on  in  Salem,  than 
in  any  port  of  the  commonwealth,  Boston  excepted.-— 
The  fisheries,  the  trade  to  the  West-Indies,  to  Europe, 
to  the  coasts  of  Africa,  and  the  freighting  business  from, 
the  southern  states,  are  here  all  pursued  with  spirit  and 
energy.  Within  ten  years  from  the  first  settlement  of 
Massachusetts,  they  rounded  a  college  at  Cambridge. 
In  the  result  of  a  synod,  1679,  are  these  wrords,  "  When 
New-England  was  poor,  and  we  were  but  few  in  num- 
ber, there  was  a  spirit  to  encourage  learning,  and  the 
college  was  full  of  students."  In  Massachusetts  there 
are  no  slaves.  Slavery  there  was  early  prohibited  by 
law  ;  and  in  the  year  1 645,  a  negro  who  had  been  fraud- 
ulently brought  from  the  coasts  of  Africa,  arid  sold  in 
the  country,  was  by  the  special  interposition  of  the  le- 
gislature, taken  from  his  master  in  order  to  be  sent 
home  to  his  native  land.  Boston,  the  capital  of  this 
state,  and  of  all  New-England,  is  built  upon  a  peninsu- 
la at  the  bottom  of  Massachusetts  Bay  :  it  has  seven 
Free  Schools  supported  at  the  public  expense,  in  which 
the  children  of  every  class  of  citizens  may  freely  asso- 
ciate together;  the  number  of  scholars  belonging  to 
these  free  schools,  are  computed  at  a^out  nine  hundred. 
This  respectable  town  was  the  cradle  of  the  American 
revolution. — Belknap^  Morse. 

MAST-PINE,  or  White  Pine,  a  famous  tree  that 
abounds  in  New-Hampshire  and  the  district  of  Maine, 
and  often  grows  to  the  height  of  one  hundred  and  fifty, 
and  sometimes  two  hundred  feet.  It  is  straight  as  an 
arrow,  and  has  no  branches  but  very  near  the  top ;  it 
is  from  twenty  to  forty  inches  in  diameter  at  its  base, 
and  appears  like  a  stately  pillar  adorned  with  a  verdant 
top  in  form  of  a  cone.  It  is  much  more  durable  than 
the  pine  of  Norway.  The  Norway  pine  begins  to  de- 
V  3 


I 


234  MECCA— MEDIA. 

cay  iafive  or  six  years  ;  but  the  American,  with  proper 
care  to  defend  the  mast-head  from  moisture,  will  last 
unimpaired  for  twenty  years. — JFinterbotham. 

MECCA,  a  city  of  Arabia,  seated  on  a  barren  spot, 
in  a  valley,  surrounded  by  little  hills,  about  a  day's  jour- 
ney from  the  Red  Sea.  This  ancient  city  was  the  birth- 
place of  Mahomet ;  and  had  been  held  in  high  venera- 
tion long  before  Mahomet  was  born,  on  account  of  its 
temple,  called  the  Kaba,  or  House  of  God.  The  kaba, 
which,  as  the  Mahometans  pretend,  was  both  Abra- 
ham's house  of  prayer  and  the  place  of  his  sepulchre, 
is  a  square  tower,  covered  on  the  top  with  a  piece  of 
black  gold-embroidered  silk  stuff.  In  the  kaba  is  a 
famous  black  stone,  which  the  angel  Gabriel  is  said  to 
have  brought  down  from  heaven,  and  which  every  mus- 
sulman  must  kiss,  or  at  least  touch,  every  time  he  goes 
round  the  temple.  This  stone  (wonderful  to  relate  !) 
was  at  first  of  a  bright  white  colour,  and,  like  the  orb 
of  day,  shone  with  such  resplendent  light  as  dazzled 
the  eyes  of  beholders  at  the  distance  of  tour  day's  jour- 
ney ;  but  it  wept  so  long  and  so  much  for  the  sins  of 
mankind,  that  it  became  at  length  opaque  and  at  last  of  a 
jet  black  !  In  the  kaba  there  is  besides,  the  well  of  Zem- 
xem  ;  whence  Hagar,  as  they  say,  filled  her  bottle  with 
water  to  quench  the  thirst  of  Ishmael*  A  pilgriniage 
*fj||Mecca  gives  a  title  to  a  distinguished  seat  in  Ma- 
fiqSnet's  paradise;  accordingly,  as  many  as  seventy 
thousand  pilgrims  every  year,  coming  from  every  region 
and  country  where  Mahometanism  is  professed,  visit 
this  city,  to  worship  in  the  kaba,  to  kiss  the  black  stone, 
and  to  drink  of  the  waters  of  Hagar's  well.  The  pil- 
grims for  Mecca  set  out  from  Constantinople,  in  a  car- 
avan, in  the  month  of  May,  and  repair  to  Damascus, 
\vhere  they  join  the  other  pilgrims,  from  Natolia  and 
Asia.  Afterwards  they  urtite  with  those  who  come  from 
Persia,  and  from  Egypt,  aii'd  other  parts  of  the  Ottoman 
empire. 

MEDIA,  an  ancient  kingdom  of  Asia,  of  formidable 
•1*5  and  notorious  lor  its  conquests  and  cruelties,  as 
acred  scriptures,  as  well  as  other  historical  writ- 
ings, testify.    Media  was  annexed  to  the  kingdom  of 


MEDITERRANEAN.  235 

Persia  and  now  belongs  to  the  Russian  empire.  In  the 
year  1721,  Persia  being  distracted  bj  civil  wars,  Peter 
the  Great,  emperor  of  Russia,  marched  to  the  assist- 
ance of  the  lawful  prince  Sha  Thamas,  whose  father  had 
been  murdered  and  his  throne  seized  by  an  usurper. — 
And  in  return  for  this  seasonable  support,,  as  well  as  to 
secure  his  future  protection,  the  new  Sophi  of  Persia 
put  him  in  possession  of  three  provinces,  which  com- 
pose the  greater  part  of  the  ancient  kingdom  of  Media. 
— 'Russell. 

MEDITERRANEAN,  a  sea  encompassed  by  Asia, 
Africa,  and  Europe  ;  communicating  with  the  Atlantic 
Ocean  by  the  Straits  of  Gibraltar,  and  with  the  Black 
Sea  by  the  Dardanelles,  the  Sea  of  Marmora,  and  the 
Strait  of  Constantinople.  This  sea,  though  of  great  ex- 
tent, has  no  tide  :  it  seems  to  lie  beneath  the  level  of 
the  Atlantic,  which,  therefore,  constantly  flows  into  it, 
with  a  strong  current,  through  the  Straits  of  Gibraltar. 
The  nations  which,  according  to  the  best  authenticated 
history,  appear  to  have  first  turned  their  attention  to 
navigation,  were  those  that  dwelt  round  the  coast  of  the 
Mediterranean  Sea.  That  sea,  by  far  the  greatest  inlet 
in  the  known  world,  having  no  tides,  nor  consequently 
any  waves  except  such  as  "are  caused  by  the  winds  on- 
ly, was  by  the  smoothness  of  its  surface,  as  well  as  by 
the  multitude  of  its  islands  and  the  proximity  of  its 
neighboring  shores,  extremely  favorable  to  the  infant 
navigation  of  the  world  ;  when,  from  their  ignorance  of 
the  compass,  men  were  afraid  to  quit  the  view  of  the 
coast,  and  from  the  imperfection  in  the  art  of  ship-build- 
ing, to  abandon  themselves  to  the  boisterous  waves  of 
the  ocean.  Round  the  Mediterranean  there  lived  sev- 
eral of  the  most  famons  nations  of  antiquity  ;  as  the 
Egyptians,  the  parents  of  agriculture  and  literature  ; 
the  Phenicians,  who  were  the  first  ship-builders  and 
navigators  •  the  Israelites,  to  whom  were  committed 
the  Divine  Oracles  ;  the  Grecians,  famous  above  all 
others  for  excellence  in  the  fine  ar*s  5  and  the  Ro- 
mans, who,  for  many  ages,  were  lords  of  the  world. 
From  the  shores  and  borders  of  the  Mediterranean,  we 
have  derived  our  learning,  our  laws,  and  our  religion. 
r~Walker9  4.  Smith. 


236         MEDUSA— MEORIS— MERCURY. 

MEDUSA,  one  of  the  Gorgons.  These  gorgons, 
according  to  the  fictions  of  ancient  poetry,  were  three 
sisters  ;  their  names  were  Stenyo,  Medusa,  and  Euri/ale. 
They  had  great  wings,  their  heads  were  attired  "with 
vipers  instead  of  hair;  their  teeth  were  like  the  tusks 
of  wild  boars,  projecting  out  of  their  mouths,  and  they 
were  armed  with  sharp  claws.  Medusa,  the  second  sis- 
ter (as  the  old  poets  tell  us)  was  at  first  very  beautiful, 
but  terrible  to  her  enemies.  Minerva  turned  her  hair 
into  snakes  :  and  Perseus  having  cut  off  her  head,  fixed 
it  on  the  shield  of  that  goddess  ;  the  sight  of  which  pe- 
trified the  beholders.  If  we  leave  the  poets,  who  by 
their  fictions  corrupted,  ten-fold,  the  religion  of  the  pa- 
gan world,  we  shall  find  that  Medusa  was,  in  all  proba- 
bility, intended  to  represent  an  attribute  of  Deity.  There 
were  two  Medusas  :  the  Egyptians  had  one,  and  the 
Grecians  the  other.  The  Egyptian  Medusa  is  repre- 
sented on  ancient  gems,  with  wings  on  her  head,  snaky 
hair,  and  a  beautiful  countenance,  which  appears  in- 
tensely thinking,  and  is  supposed  to  represent  divine 
ivisdoin.  The  Grecian  Medusa,  on  Minerva's  shield, 
as  appears  on  other  gems,  has  a  countenance  distorted 
with  rage  or  pain,  and  is  supposed  to  represent  divine 
vengeance  towards  incorrigible  offenders. — Young,  Dan- 
net. 

MEORIS,  a  lake,  between  the  Mediterranean  Sea 
and  the  mountains  of  Memphis,  in  Egypt,  extending 
four  hundred  and  fifty  miles  in  circumference,  and  be- 
ing fifty  fathoms  in  depth  :  this  lake  was  artificial,  or  at 
least  partly  so,  and  has  been  ranked  among  the  extraor- 
dinary works  of  the  ancient  Egyptians.  They  scooped 
out  the  bed  of  this  vast  lake  for  the  purposes  of  receiv- 
ing the  superfluous  waters  of  the  Nile,  when  it  rose  to 
too  great  a  height,  and  of  furnishing,  during  the  seasons 
of  ebb,  moisture  to  the  surrounding  country.  For  these 
purposes  a  wide  sluice,  which  was  opened  and  shut  as 
occasion  required,  admitted  the  waters  of  the  Nile  into 
the  lake ;  and  numerous  canals  conveyed  them  out  of  it 
when  necessary,  in  different  directions. — Russell. 

MERCURY,  the  smallest  of  the  primary  planets  that 
were  known  before  the  discovery  of  Juno,  Pallas,  and 


MERINO  SHEEP.  237 

Ceres  ;  and  in  its  orbit  passing  nearest  the  sun.  It  is 
computed  that  its  diameter  is  three  thousand  one  hun- 
dred and  eighty-nine  miles  ;  that  its  mean  distance 
from  the  sun  is  thirty-six  million  three  hundred  and 
eighty-seven  thousand  five  hundred  and  eighty-three 
miles  ;  and  that  its  annual  period  round  the  sun, 
is  eighty-seven  days  and  twenty -three  hours.  Mercu- 
ry, as  well  as  the  other  planets,  was  worhipped  by  the 
heathen  world,  as  a  god  ;  or  rather  they  paid  their  wor- 
ship to  the  imaginary  spirit  that  was  supposed  to  inhab- 
it this  planet,  and  to  preside  over  it.  The  god  Mercu- 
ry was  held  to  be  the  messenger  of  the  other  gods,  to 
preside  over  eloquence  and  trade,  to  be  the  inventor  of 
music,  the  interpreter  of  the  will  of  the  other  deities, 
and  the  son  of  Jupiter  by  Maia.  In  the  fourth  book  of 
Virgil's  tSEneid,  Mercury  is  described  with  yellow  hair, 
and  the  graceful  limbs  of  youth  ;  with  golden  sandals 
bound  to  his  feet ;  skimming  the  air  with  wings,  as  a 
bird  ;  holding  in  his  hand  a  potent  rod,  or  magic  wand  ; 
by  which  he  gives  sleep  and  takes  it  away,  opens  the 
eyes  of  the  dead,  arm  bridles  the  fury  of  winds  and 
tempests. 

MERINO  SHEEP,  a  breed  of  Spanish  sheep,  fa- 
mous for  their  fine  wool.  None  of  the  superfine  cloth 
made  in  England,  France,  or  Holland,  can  be  fabricated 
without  the  mixture  of  a  certain  portion  of  this  wool. 
The  height  of  the  male  of  the  merinos  is  about  the  same 
as  that  of  the  ordinary  breed  in  this  country.  The  head 
appears  rather  bigger  and  straighter.  The  ears  are 
very  small  ;  the  eyes  remarkably  bright  ;  the  horns 
curved  in  a  spiral  turn  ;  the  neck  short ;  and  the  chest 
broad.  The  members  are  more  compact  and  thick 
than  those  of  our  common  breed  of  sheep  ;  and  the  car- 
case is  thought  to  have  smaller  bones.  The  body,  face, 
and  legs,  are  covered  by  a  delicate  fleece,  which  grows 
exceedingly  thick,  without  any  mixture  of  coarser  locks. 
This  animal  is  perfectly  gentle,  but  quick,  firm,  and 
regular  in  all  his  motions.  The  merinos  were  first 
brought  from  Spain  into  the  United  States,  by  David 
Humphreys,  Esq.  It  has  been  the  opinion  of  some  in- 
telligent men,  that  the  general  propagation  cf  this  breed 


233  MEXICO. 

of  sheep  -would  add  immensely  to  the  wealth  of  our  na- 
tion. 

MEXICO,  or  J\*ew  Spalx*  a  vast  district  of  Spanish 
America  ;  situated  between  9°  and  40°  north  latitude  ; 
extending  two  thousand  and  one  hundred  miles  in 
length,  and  sixteen  hundred  miles  in  breadth  ;  bounded 
on  the  north,  by  unknown  regions  5  on  the  east,  by 
Louisiana  and  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  ;  on  the  south  by  the 
Isthmus  of  Darien  ;  and  on  the  west  by  the  Pacific 
Ocean.  This  country  produces  precious  stones,  and 
abounds  with  mines  of  gold  and  silver ;  of  the  latter  of 
which  they  reckon  no  less  than  a  thousand.  It  produ- 
ces in  abundance,  all  the  vegetables  and  fruits  both  of 
the  temperate  and  tropical  climates ;  and  of  medicinal 
plants,  natives  of  that  country,  Dr.  Hernandez  describes 
in  his  natural  history,  about  twelve  hundred.  That  part 
of  this  country,  known  by  the  name  of  New-Jlfecdco.  is 
so  called,  because  of  its  having  been  discovered  later 
than  Old  Mexico  :  it  lies  between  Old  Mexico  on  the 
south,  and  Louisiana  on  the  east ;  but  the  twentieth  part 
of  it  is  neither  cultivated  nor  inhabited,  either  by  Span- 
iards or  Indians.  The  city  of  Mexico  is  said  to  have 
been  founded  by  the  natives,  about  the  year  1S25.  It  is 
situated  in  the  charming  vale  of  Mexico,  on  several 
small  islands,  in  Lake  Tetzucco  :  and  is  said  to  have 
consisted  of  upwards  of  sixty  thousand  houses,  contain- 
ing each  from  four  to  ten  inhabitants.  This  city,  while 
it  was  in,  the  possession  of  the  natives,  was  immensely 
rich  in  gold  and  silver  ;  and  it  is  now  the  great  centre 
of  the  commerce  of  Spanish  America.  In  the  year  1521 , 
Cortez.  a  Spanish  adventurer,  sailing  from  the  island  of 
Cuba,  with  oiilv  a  few  hundred  men,  invaded  and  sub- 
dued the  Mexican  empire,  and  by  treachery  captivated 
and  imprisoned  Montezuma  the  emperor  ;  who,  through 
fear  of  death,  exhorting  his  subjects  to  submission,  was 
overwhelmed  and  killed  by  them,  with  vollies  of  stones 
and  arrows.  Cortez  completed  the  conquest  of  the  em- 
pi  ro  ;  and  thereafter  exercised  towards  the  Mexicans 
the  most  infernal  cruelties  ;  broiling  them  on  burning 
coals,  to  make  them  confess  where  they  had  hid  their 
Si-c  FLOATING  GAKDKNS. 


MICHIGAN  LAKE— MINERAL  COAL.    239 

MICHIGAN  LAKE,  a  large  lake,  in  the  north-west 
territory  of  the  United  States  ;  lying  between  latitudes 
42°  10'  and  45®  40';  extending  about  two' hundred  and 
eighty  miles  in  length  from  north  to  south,  and  from 
sixty  to  seventy  miles  in  breadth ;  it  is  navigable  for 
ships  of  a  large  burden.  The  hand  ®f  nature  seems  to 
have  pointed  out  for  future  generations,  a  navigable 
water-course,  through  this  lake,  from  the  Mississippi  to 
Hudson's  river.  About  twenty  miles  from  above  the 
mouth  of  the  Missouri,  at  the  Mississippi,  is  the  entrance 
of  the  river  Illinois,  which  is  navigable  for  batteaux  to 
its  source  5  and  from  the  source  of  this  river  there  is  a 
portage  only  of  two  miles  to  Chickago,  which  is  also 
navigable  for  batteaux  to  its  entrance  into  lake  Michi- 
gan, a  distance  of  sixteen  miles.  Lake  Michigan  com- 
municates with  Lake  Huron,  by  a  strait  six  miles  broad  ; 
and  this  last  lake  has  communication  with  Lakes  Erie 
and  Ontario,  and  consequently  witli  the  river  St.  Law- 
rence, passing  the  cataract  of  Niagara,  by  a  portage  of 
eight  miles.  It  will  be  found  extremely  easy  to  pass 
through  Lake  Ontario  to  and  up  Wood  Creek:  and  by 
a  portage  of  about  three  miles  you  arrive  at  a  creek, 
\vhich,  with  another  three  miles'  portage,  brings  you  to 
the  Mohawk  River,  a  branch  of  the  Hudson  River,  and 
navigable  for  batteaux.  Thus  it  appears,  if  this  state- 
ment be  correct,  (which  is  an  abridgment  of  one  in  the 
•American  Jtfuseum]  that,  with  portages  only  of  sixteen 
miles  in  the  whole,  there  is  already  a  navigable  water- 
course for  boats,  from  the  Mississippi  to  the  Hudson. 

MINERAL  COAL,  or  Pit  Coal,  an  invaluable  min- 
eral for  fuel,  and  other  uses,  that  is  dug  out  of  the  bow- 
els of  the  earth,  and  is  found  in  several  parts  of  the  Uni- 
ted States.  Mr.  Jefferson  says,  in  his  Notes,  that  the 
country  on  James  river,  in  Virginia,  from  fifteen  to 
twenty  miles  above  Richmond,  and  several  miles  north- 
ward and  southward,  is  replete  with  mineral  coal  of  a 
very  excellent  quality ;  that  in  the  western  country  coal 
is  known  to  be  in  so  many  places,  as  to  have  induced  an 
opinion  that  the  whole  tract  between  the  Laurel  Moun- 
tain, Mississipi,  and  Ohio,  yields  coal  ;  and  that  it  is 
also  known  in  many  places  on  the  north  side  of  the  Ohio. 
Mr.  St.  Fond,  speaking  of  the  inhabitants  of  London,  who 


240  MINES. 

use  nothing  for  common  firing  but  mineral  coal,  says« 
"  It  is  to  be  presumed  that  this  immense  quantity  of 
firing  (in  London)  contributes  to  its  salubrity  5  in  the 
first  place,  by  the  strong,  equal,  and  constant  heat  pro^ 
duced  by  the  coal  in  an  atmosphere  naturally  impregna- 
ted with  water  5  and  in  the  second  place,  because  so 
many  chimnies,  so  many  manufactories  and  works  of  ev- 
ery kind  using  fire,  occasion  currents  and  changes  of 
air  on  every  side,  which  carry  off  the  noxious  and  pu- 
trescent  vapors  that  always  take  place  when  the  air  is 
too  long  stagnant."  See  NEWCASTLE. 

MINES,  places  in  the  earth  containing  metals,  &c. 
The  following  propositions  respecting  mines  of  the  pre- 
cious metals,  are  collected  excepting  the  last,  from  Adam 
Smith's  Wealth  of  Nations.  First.  Mines  of  gold  and 
silver  in  South  America,  afford  less  per  centage  of  profit 
to  the  proprietors,  than  the  tin  mines  in  England  :  the 
whole  average  rent  of  the  tin  mines  of  Cornwall  being 
to  the  whole  average  rent  of  the  silver  mines  of  Peru, 
as  thirteen  to  twelve.  Second.  There  is  known  to  be  a 
number  of  mines  of  gold  and  silver,  in  Europe,  Asia,  St. 
Domingo,  and  the  American  continent,  which  cannot 
defray  the  expenses  of  digging  and  refining  :  so  also  it 
is  respecting  most  of  the  mines  of  precious  stones.' — • 
When  Tavernier,  a  jeweller,  visited  the  mines  of  Gol- 
conda,  in  Hindostan,  he  was  informed  that  the  sovereign 
of  the  country,  for  whose  benefit  they  were  wrought, 
had  ordered  all  of  them  to  be  shut  up,  except  those 
which  yielded  the  largest  and  finest  stones.  The  oth- 
ers, it  seems,  were  to  the  proprietor  not  worth  working, 
though  labor  there  was  very  cheap.  Third.  Even  in 
Peru,  where  there  are  the  richest  silver  mines  in  the 
known  world,  the  business  of  mining  is  considered  as 
hazardous  and  unprofitable  ;  insomuch  that  when  any 
person  undertakes  to  work  a  new  mine  in  Peru,  he  is 
universally  looked  upon  as  a  man  destined  to  bankrupt- 
cy and  ruin  ;  and  mining,  it  seems,  is  considered  there 
as  a  lottery,  in  which  the  prizes  do  not  compensate  the 
blanks,  though  the  greatness  of  some  of  the  prizes 
tempts  many  adventurers  to  throw  away  their  fortunes 
in  such  unprosperous  projects.  Fourth.  In  the  silver 
mines  of  Peru,  we  are  told  by  Frezjer  and  Ulloa,  that 


ifl¥Tr--MINUTE  SERPENT.  241 

the  proprietor  frequently  exacts  no  other  acknowledg- 
ment from  the  undertaker  of  the  mine,  but  that  he  will 
grind  the  ore  at  his  mill,  paying  him  the  ordinary  price 
of  grinding ;  and  yet  the  undertaker  generally  loses  by 
the  business.  Hence  fifth,  it  evidently  results,  that  if 
any  event  should  ever  throw  the  mines  of  Spanish 
America  into  the  possession  of  the  United  States,  that 
event  would  be  the  death-blow  to  their  prosperity  and 
happiness.  Mining  has  ruined  Spain  ;  and  any  nation, 
will  be  ruined,  which,  seeking  to  acquire  wealth  from 
the  bowels  of  the  earth,  should  neglect  to  cultivate  its 
surface. 

MINT,  the  place  for  coining  money.  In  ancient 
times  gold  and  silver  always  passed  by  weight.  Abra- 
ham weighed  to  Ephron  the  four  hundred  shekels  of 
silver  which  he  had  agreed  to  pay  for  the  field  of  Mach- 
pelah.  They  are  said  however  to  have  been  the  current 
money  of  the  merchant;  and  yet  were  received  by 
weight  and  not  by  tale,  in  the  same  manner  that  ingots 
of  gold  and  bars  of  silver  are  at  present.  Money  was 
for  a  long  time  received  at  the  exchequer  in  England, 
by  weight  and  not  by  tale.  The  inconveniency  and  dif- 
ficulty of  weighing  those  metals  with  exactness,  gave  oc- 
casion to  the  institution  of  coins,  of  which  the  stamp, 
covering  entirely  both  sides  of  the  piece,  and  sometimes 
the  edges  too,  was  supposed  to  ascertain  not  only  the 
fineness,  but  the  weight  of  the  metal.  Such  coins, 
therefore,  are  received  by  tale,  without  the  trouble  of 
weighing.  In  the  mint  of  the  United  States,  about 
eleven  thousand  dollars  of  the  gold  coin,  in  the  year 
1804,  was  the  produce  of  virgin  gold,  found  in  the 
county  of  Cabarrus,  in  the  state  of  North -Carolina. — 
Jidam  Smith,  Boudinot. 

MINUTE  SERPENT,  a  species  of  serpent'  in  the 
East -Indies,  smaTl  and  black,  with  yellow  rings.  The 
corrosive  matter  contained  in  the  vesicles  of  this  ani- 
mal is  so  sharp  and  violent,  that  it  causes  almost  instant 
death.  The  general  opinion  of  the  multitude  is,  that  a 
person  may  live  just  as  many  minutes  after  being  bitten, 
as  the  reptile  has  rings  around  his  body;  hence  the 
name  that  has  been  given  it  of  minute  serpent. -Grandpre. 


242  MISSISSIPPI— MISSOURI. 

MISSISSIPPI,  a  large  river  of  North  America,  which 
forms  the  western  boundary  of  the  United  States ;  sep- 
arating them  from  Louisiana,  which,  though  belonging 
to  these  states  by  purchase,  is  not  yet  incorporated  with 
them.  This  river  is  the  great  channel  of  the  waters  of 
the  Ohio,  the  Illinois,  and  their  numerous  brandies  from 
the  east,  and  of  the  Missouri,  and  other  rivers  from  the 
west.  Its  source  is  unknown ;  but  its  length  is  suppos- 
ed to  be  upwards  of  three  thousand  miles,  in  all  its 
windings,  to  its  entrance  into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  in  be- 
tween twenty-nine  and  thirty  degrees  of  north  latitude. 
From  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  to  where  it  receives 
the  Ohio,  is  one  thousand  miles  by  water,  but  only  five 
hundred  by  land,  passing  through  the  Chickasaw  coun- 
try. From  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio  to  that  of  the  Missouri, 
is"two  hundred  and  thirty  miles  by  water,  and  one  hun- 
dred and  forty  by  land.  From  thence  to  the  mouth  of 
the  Illinois  river,  is  about  twenty -five  miles.  Its  cur- 
rent is  so  rapid,  that  it  can  never  be  stemmed  by  the 
force  of  wind  alone,  acting  on  sails.  During  the  floods, 
which  are  periodical  as  those  of  the  Nile,  the  largest 
vessels  may  pass  down  it,  if  their  steerage  can  be  insur- 
ed. These  iloods  begin  in  April,  and  the  river  returns 
into  its  banks  early  in  August.  The  inundation  ex- 
tends further  on  the  western  than  eastern  side,  cover- 
ing the  lands  in  some  places  fifty  miles  from  its  banks. 
The  country  watered  by  the  Mississippi  and  its  eastern 
branches,  constitute  five  eighths  of  the  United  States ; 
two  of  which  five  eighths  are  occupied  by  the  Ohio  and 
its  waters. — Jefferson,  Walker. 

MISSOURI,  a  large  river  of  Louisiana,  which  emp- 
ties into  the  Mississippi,  one  thousand  two  hundred  and 
thirty  miles  from  the  mouth  of  the  latter,  and  two  hun- 
dred and  thirty  above  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio.  According 
to  Mr.  Jefferson's  Notes,  at  the  junction  of  the  Missou- 
ri with  the  Mississippi,  the  former  is  ^e  largest  stream. 
It  is  remarkably  cold,  muddy,  and  rapid.  Its  overflow- 
ings are  considerable ;  they  happen  during  the  months 
of  June  and  July.  Captains  Lewis  and  Clark,  who 
were  sent  on  an  exploring  mission  from  the  LTnited  States 
to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  inform  us,  that  it  is  two  thousand 
five  hundred  and  seventy -five  miles  from  the  mouth  of 
the  Missouri  to  its  greatest  falls. 


MOCCASIN  SNAKE— MOCHA— MOCKING  BIRD.    243 

MOCCASIN  SNAKE,  a  large  and  horrible  serpent 
that  abounds  in  East-Florida.  They  are  from  three  to 
four  and  even  five  feet  in  length,'  and  as  thick  as  a 
man's  leg.  It  is  said  that  their  bite  is  incurable,  the 
flesh  for  a  considerable  space  about  the  wound  rotting 
to  the  bone,  which  then  becomes  carious,  and  a  general 
mortification  ensues,  which  inevitably  destroys  the  pa- 
tient 5  there  being  no  remedy  to  prevent  a  lingering, 
miserable  death,  but  by  immediately  cutting  away  the 
flesh  to  the  bone,  for  some  distance  about  the  wound. 
When  this  snake  observes  you  to  take  notice  of  him,  af- 
ter throwing  himself  into  a  coil,  he  gradually  raises  his 
upper  jaw  till  it  falls  back  nearly  touching  his  neck, 
at  the  same  time  slowly  vibrating  his  long,  purple,  forky 
tongue,  and  directing  his  poisonous  fangs  right  at  you  : 
his  appearance  in.  this  situation  is  truly  terrifying.—- 
JBartrvm* 

MOCHA,  a  town  of  Arabia,  in  the  province  of  Ye- 
men. It  stands  on  the  eastern  bank  of  the  Red  Sea, 
about  thirteen  leagues  from  the  straits  of  Babelman- 
del,  in  about  thirteen  degrees  north  latitude ;  it  abounds 
with  the  most  excellent  coffee  in  the  world.  Since  the 
year  1800,  coffee,  which  used  to  be  monopolised  by  the 
English  at  Mocha,  has  been  imported  thence  by  the 
Americans  directly  to  the  United  States.  The  south 
and  south-east  monsoon  wind  comes  to  this  place  charg- 
ed with  all  the  vapors  of  Abyssinia,  and  brings  with  it 
even  the  sand  of  that  country.  In  consequence,  the  at- 
mosphere seems  inflamed,  the  sky  looks  red,  nothing 
scarcely  is  to  be  seen  at  the  distance  of  a  league  ;  anil 
the  burning  sand,  carried  along  by  the  wind,  scorches 
the  vegetation  on  every  side.  The  Arab  of  Mocha,  in 
the  mean  time,  is  seen  placed  in  a  current  of  air,  lolling 
upon  a  pile  of  cushions,  imbibing  the  vapor  of  perfumes 
which  are  burnt  by  his  side,  and  indolently  smoaking 
his  pipe.  At  the  distance  of  about  five  hundred  paces 
from  Mocha,  the  Jews  who  are  numerous,  have  a  camp, 
where  they  live  in  straw  huts,  not  being  permitted  to 
live  in  the  town.  The  colour  of  these  Jews  is  negro 
black. — Grandpre. 

MOCKING  BIRD,  a  small  green  bird,  which  is  al- 


$44  MOHAWKS— MOHEGANS. 

most  the  only  musical  one  to  be  found  in  the  island  of 
New  Zealand.  His  melody  is  so  sweet,  and  his  notes 
so  varied,  that  any  one  would  imagine  himself  surround- 
ed by  a  hundred  clifterent  sorts  of  birds,  when  the  little 
warbler  is  exerting  himself:  from  this  circumstance  it 
\vas  named  the  mocking  bird. — Cookers  Voyage. 

MOHAWKS,  a  famous  tribe  of  Indians  who  inhabit  - 
,ed  along  the  Mohawk  river,  in  the  state  of  New-York, 
and  were  the  head  tribe  of  the  six  nations.  The  Mo- 
hawk language,  which  is  the  language  of  the  six  nations, 
is  wholly  destitute  of  labials,  or  has  no  words  which  re- 
quire the  lips  to  be  closed  in  pronouncing  them.  In 
this  respect,  it  is  perhaps  different  from  any  other  lan- 
guage. The  strength  of  mind  and  memory  which  the 
Mohawks  possessed,  wilt  appear  from  the  following 
fact.  In  the  year  1689,  commissioners  from  Boston, 
Plymouth,  and  Connecticut,  had  a  conference  with  the 
five  nations  (afterwards  six  nations)  at  Albany.  A  Mo- 
hawk Sachem  in  a  long  oration,  answered  the  English 
jBessage,  and  repeated  all  that  had  been  said  the  pre- 
ceding day.  The  art  they  had  to  assist  their  memories 
was  this.  "  The  Sachem  who  presided,  had  a  bundle  of 
sticks  prepared  for  the  purpose,  and  at  the  close  of  ev- 
ery principal  article  of  the  message  delivered  to  them, 
gave  a  stick  to  another  Sachem,  charging  him  with  the 
remembrance  of  it.  By  this  means  the  orator,  after  a 
previous  conference  with  the  other  Sachems,  was  pre- 
pared to  repeat  every  part  of  the  message,  and  give  it 
its  proper  reply.  As  the  Mohawks  were  strongly  attach- 
ed to  the  Johnson  family,  on  account  of  Sir  William 
Johnson,  so  they  emigrated  to  Canada  with  Sir  John 
Johnson,  about  the  year  1776.  The  principal  part  of 
the  tribe  settled  on  Grand  River,  in  Upper  Canada. — 
Dr.  Edivards,  Smith's  History. 

MOHEGANS,  a  numerous  tribe  of  Indians,  who  pos- 
sessed a  considerable  part  of  the  present  territory  of 
Connecticut,  at  the  time  of  the  first  arrival  of  the  Eng- 
lish. According  to  Dr.  Edwards,  their  language  abound- 
ed with  labials  ;  had  no  diversity  of  gender,  either  in 
nouns  or  pronouns,  and  no  adjectives ;  and  seemed  to 
be  radically  diftprent  from  the  language  of  the  Mohawks 


MOLE— MOLOCH.  245 

of  New- York.  Although  these  nations  of  Indians  lived 
at  no  great  distance  apart,  there  was  not  to  be  found  one 
word  in  either  language,  which  had  any  analogy  to  the 
correspondent  word  in  the  language  of  the  other.  The 
Mohegans  were  distinguished  by  their  friendship  to  the 
white  people.  The  remnant  of  this  tribe,  together  with 
the  Stockbridge  Indians,  migrated  and  settled  near  lake 
Oneida,  in  the  state  of  New- York. 

MOLE,  a  common  little  animal,  of  a  wonderful  con- 
formation 5  which,  if  we  compare  with  its  manner  of 
living,  we  shall  find  a  manifest  attention  in  Providence 
to  adapt  the  one  to  the  other.  It  scarce  has  eyes,  which 
are  not  much  needed,  as  a  subterraneous  abode  is  allot- 
ted to  it.  Its  fore  feet  are  broad,  strong,  short,  and  in- 
clined outwards  5  answering  the  purpose  of  digging, 
serving  to  throw  back  the  earth  with  greater  ease,  and 
if)  pursue  the  worms  and  insects  which  are  its  prey.— • 
The  form  of  the  body  is  not  less  admirably  contrived 
for  its  way  of  life.  The  fore  part  is  thick  and  very  mus- 
cular, giving  great  strength  to  the  action  of  the  fore  feet, 
enabling  it  to  dig  its  way  with  amazing  swiftness,  ei- 
ther to  pursue  its  prey,  or  elude  the  search  of  the  most 
active  enemy. — Goldsmith. 

MOLOCH,  an  horrid  idol  of  the  ancient  Ammonites 
and  Canaanites,  and  afterwards  of  the  Carthagenians  : 
it  is  thought  by  the  Jewish  Rabbins  to  have  been  Saturn, 
and  was  the  same  as  Baal  or  the  idol  of  the  sun^  (see 
Jeremiah,  19th  5th.)  The  image  of  Moloch  is  said  to 
have  been  made  of  brass,  hollowed  within  5  and  being 
thoroughly  heated  like  iron  in  a  furnace,  it  was  pre- 
pared to  receive  its  victims,  which  consisted  of  children. 
The  idol  stood  with  extended  but  declining  arms,  in  the 
act  of  receiving ;  so  that  when  the  human  victim  was 
presented,  it  dropt  down  into  the  devouring  furnace. 
It  was  a  custom  for  parents  to  select  the  most  lovely  of 
their  children  for  this  oblation;  in  the  mean  time,  to 
drown  the  cries  of  the  victims,  various  kinds  of  musical 
instruments  were  sounded  during  the  whole  of  the 
shocking  scene.  In  the  worship  of  Moloch,  children 
were  sometimes  cast  into  the  brazen  furnace,  and  con- 
sumed, and  sometimes  were  made  to  pass  through  or 
W  2 


246         MON  ATI— MON  E  Y-POU  ND— MONK  ET. 

between  two  fires  for  purification.  Even  the  Israelites, 
in  the  time  of  Solomon ,  were  infected  with  this  most 
detestable  idolatry. 

MON  ATI,  an  animal  resembling  the  whale  kind,  and 
which  lives  in  the  Kamskatkan  and  northernmost  Amer- 
ican seas.  They  live  in  families,  one  near  another  ;  each 
consists  of  a  male,  a  female,  a  half-grown  young  one, 
and  a  very  small  one.  The  females  oblige  the  young 
to  swim  before  them,  while  the  other  old  ones  surround, 
and,  as  it  were,  guard  them  on  all  sides.  If  the  female 
is  attacked,  the  male  will  defend  her  to  the  utmost,  and 
if  she  is  killed,  will  follow  her  dead  body  to  the  very 
shore,  and  swim  for  some  days  near  the  place  it  has 
been  landed  at.  When  they  are  transfixed  with  the 
harpoon,  they  lay  hold  of  the  rocks  with  their  paws, 
and  stick  so  fast  as  to  leave  the  skin  before  they  can  be 
forced  off.  When  a  monati  is  struck,  his  companions 
$\vim  to  his  assistance ;  some  will  attempt  to  overturn 
the  boat  by  diving  under  it ;  others  will  push  down  the 
fope,  in  order  to  break  it ;  and  others  will  strike  at  the 
harpoon  with  their  tails,  with  a  seeming  design  of  get- 
ting it  out,  which  they  often  succeed  in.  This  animal 
is  of  an  enormous  size ;  some  are  twenty-eight  feet  in 
length. — Winterbotham. 

MONEY-POUND,  a  real  pound  in  weight  at  first, 
but  at  length  becoming,  as  at  present,  only  a  nominal 
pound.  The  English  pound  sterling,  in  the  time  of 
Edward  I.  contained  a  full  pound,  tower  weight,  of  sil- 
ver, of  a  particular  fineness ;  the  tower  pound  being 
something  less  than  the  troyes  pound.  The  English 
pound  contains  at  present  about  a  third  only  ;  the  vScots 
pound  about  a  thirty-sixth  5  and  a  French  pound  about 
a  sixty-sixth  part  of  their  original  value.  Princes  and 
sovereign  states,  by  ordaining  that  three  or  four  ounces 
of  silver,  or  less,  should  be  called  a  pound,  opened  the 
way  -for  the  easy  payment  of  their  debts  ;  private  debt- 
r»ok  advantage  of  the  public  cheat,  paying  nominal 
pounds  of  silver  for  real  pounds ;  and  creditors  were 
defrauded  and  ruined. — A.  Smith. 

MONKEY,  an  extraordinary  animal,  which  closely 


MONKS.  £47 

resembles  a  man  in  his  shape  and  appearance.  He  is 
always  found  to  inhabit  hot  countries,  the  forests  of 
which  in  some  parts  of  the  world  are  filled  with  innu- 
merable bands  of  these  animals.  He  is  extremely  ac- 
tive, and  his  fore-legs  resemble  the  arms  of  a  man,  so 
that  he  not  only  uses  them  to  walk  upon,  but  frequently 
to  climb  trees,  to  hang  by  the  branches  and  to  take  hold 
of  his  food.  He  supports  himself  upon  almost  every 
species  of  wild  fruit  that  is  found  in  those  countries  ; 
and  is  continually  scrambling  up  and  down  the  highest 
trees  in  order  to  procure  himself  sustenance.  Large 
bands  of  these  animals  will  frequently  sally  out  to  plun- 
der the  gardens  in  the  neighborhood  ;  and  in  these  pre- 
datory excursions,  some  of  them  are  placed  as  spies  to 
give  notice  to  the  rest,  in  case  any  human  being  should 
approach  the  garden  5  and  should  that  happen,  one  of 
the  centinels  informs  them  by  a  particular  chattering,, 
and  they  all  escape  in  an  instant.  In  Reid's  ingenious 
essays  on  the  intellectual  and  active  powers  of  man,  the 
author  says :  "  I  have  been  informed  on  good  authority, 
that  a  monkey,  having  once  been  intoxicated  with  strong 
drink,  in  consequence  of  which  it  burned  its  foot  in  the 
fire,  and  had  a  severe  fit  of  sickness,  could  never  after 
be  induced  to  drink  any  thing  but  pure  water."  Happy 
were  it  for  thousands  of  the  stock  of  Adam,  if,  in  this 
one  respect,  they  had  as  much  prudence  and  forecast  as 
the  aforementioned  monkey. — Day. 

MONKS,  an  order  of  men  in  the  Romish  church, 
who  led  a  secluded  life,  under  pretence  of  extraordinary 
devotion.  During  the  first  fervors  of  monastic  rage, 
the  monks  ran  naked  through  the  lonely  desarts,  and 
lodged  in  gloomy  caverns  ;  or  like  cattle  took  their 
abode  in  the  open  air.  Many  chose  their  rugged 
dwelling  in  the  hollow  side  or  narrow  cleft  of  some 
rock,  which  obliged  them  to  sit  or  stand  in  the  most 
painful  and  excruciating  posture,  during  the  remainder 
of- their  wretched  lives  ;  and  not  a  few,  under  the  name 
of  Stylites  or  Pillar  Saints,  ascended  the  top  of  »ome 
lofty  column,  where  they  remained  for  years,  night  and 
day,  without  any  shelter  from  the  heat  or  cold.  It  hap- 
pened, however,  at  length,  that  these  contemners  of  the 
world  used  every  juggling  art  to  enrich  themselves  5 


S48         MONONGAHELA— MONSOONS. 

in  which  they  had  great  success.  Beside  the  wealth 
and  influence  gained  by  them  in  consequence  of  the 
superstitious  ignorance  of  the  great,  as  well  as  of  the 
vulgar,  a  popular  opinion  whicn  prevailed  towards  the 
end  of  the  tenth  century,  contributed  greatly  to  aug- 
ment their  opulence.  The  thousand  years  mentioned 
by  St.  John,  in  the  book  of  Revelation,  were  supposed 
to  be  nearly  accomplished,  and  the  day  of  judgment  at 
hand.  Multitudes  of  Christians,  therefore,  anxious  only 
for  their  eternal  salvation,  delivered  over  to  the  monks 
all  their  lands,  treasures,  and  other  valuable  effects, 
and  repaired  with  haste  to  Palestine,  where  they  ex- 
pected the  appearance  of  Christ  on  Mount  Sion. — Mo- 
sheim,  Russd-L 

MONONGAHELA,  a  river  of  the  United  States  $ 
rising  at  the  foot  of  the  Laurel  Mountain  in  Virginia  f 
thence  by  a  south  by  east  direction  passing  into  Penn- 
sylvania 5  and  thence,  winding,  proceeds  in  a  north  by 
west  course  till  it  joins  the  Allegany  river  at  Pitts- 
burgh 5  where  the  Ohio,  at  the  confluence  of  these  two 
rivers,  begins.  On  the  banks  of  this  river,  facing  Pitts- 
burgh, the  hills,  which  are  at  least  three  hundred  feet 
high,  appear  to  be  one  solid  body  of  coal.  Six  miles 
from  Pittsburgh,  on  the  banks  of  the  Monongaliela,  lies 
JBraddock's  Field.,  or  the  place  where  General  Braddock, 
with  the  first  division  of  his  army,  consisting  of  one 
thousand  four  hundred  men,  fell  into  an  ambuscade  of 
four  hundred  men,  French  and  Indians  5  by  whom  he 
was  defeated  and  mortally  wounded,  July  9, 1755.  Col- 
onel George  Washington,  at  that  time  twenty -three 
years  of  age,  was  one  of  the  aids-de-camp  to  General 
Braddock  ;  and  in  a  very  short  time  after  the  action  had 
commenced,  he  was  the  only  aid  remaining  alive  and 
unwounded.  He  had  two  horses  killed  under  him,  and 
four  balls  through  his  hat ;  but  to  the  astonishment  of 
all,  escaped  unhurt,  while  every  other  officer  on  horse- 
back was  either  killed  or  wounded.  Dr.  Craik,  who 
was  an  eye-witness,  remarked,  that  "  nothing  but  the 
superintending  care  of  Providence  could  have  saved 
him  from  the, late  of  all  around  him." — Marshall. 

MONSOONS,    winds  prevailing   chiefly   in   some 


MONTH  249 

parts  of  the  Indian  Ocean,  and  which  blow  six  months 
in  one  direction,  and  then  six  months  from  the  opposite 
point.  A  ship  sailing  from  the  Red  Sea  with  the  north- 
east monsoon,  in  the  summer  or  autumn,  would  meet 
with  the  south-west  monsoon,  in  the  beginning  of  De- 
cember, which  must  detain  her  in  some  of  the  harbors 
on  the  eastern  coast  of  Africa,  till  the  next  April.  Then 
the  north-east  monsoon  would  carry  her  to  the  southern 
parts  of  Africa,  into  the  region  of  variable  winds.  This 
regular  course  and  changing  of  the  monsoons  was  fa- 
mi  tiarly  known  to  the  navigators  of  Solomon's  ships, 
and  was  the  cause  of  their  spending  three  years,  to  and 
from  Ophir.  In  going  and  returning,  they  changed 
the  monsoons  six  times,  which  made  thirty-six  months. 
They  needed  no  longer  time  to  complete  the  voyage, 
and  they  could  not  perform  it  in  less. — Belknap. 

MONTH,  a  space  of  time  measured  by  the  revolu- 
tion of  the  sun  or  moon,  and  reckoned  the  twelfth  part 
of  the  year.  A  lunar  month  is  the  space  between  twa 
conjunctions  of  the  moon  with  the  sun,  or  between  two 
moons.  A  solar  month  is  the  space  of  time  wherein 
the  sun  revolves  through  one  entire  sign  of  the  eclip- 
tic. The  calendar,  or  kalendar  months  consist  unequal- 
ly of  thirty  and  thirty-one  days,  excepting  February, 
which  in  leap  years  has  twenty-nine,  but  in  other  years 
only  twenty-eight  days.  The  Roman  year,  from  the  old 
institution  of  Numa,  was  lunar  ;  borrowed  from  the 
Greeks  ;  and  to  fill  up  the  deficiency  of  the  lunar  year 
and  extend  it  to  the  measure  of  the  solar  course,  the 
Romans  inserted,  or  intercalated,  after  the  manner  of 
the  Greeks,  an  extraordinary  month  of  twenty -two  days, 
every  second  year,  and  twenty -three  every  fourth,  be- 
tween the  twenty -third  and  twenty -fourth  day  of  Febru- 
ary. The  Romans  began  their  year  with  the  month  of 
March,  which  was  so  called  because  it  was  dedicated  to 
Mars,  their  god  of  war.  April  took  its  name  from 
Aphrodite,  or  Venus  ;  May  from  the  goddess  Maia  ; 
June  from  Juventas,  the  goddess  of  youth  ;  July  from 
Julius  Csesar,  and  August  from  Augustus  Csesar,  both 
usurpers  and  tyrants.  September,  October,  November, 
and  December,  derived  their  names  from  Latin  words, 
which  express  the  numbers  of  seven?  eight,  nine?  ten  5 


£50  MOON— MOORS. 

because  those  four  months  stood  in  that  numerical  or- 
der in  the  Roman  calendar.  The  month  of  January  was 
so  called  because  it  was  dedicated  to  the  god  Janus. — 
February  was  so  called  from  Februus,  a  name  of  the  in- 
fernal god  Pluto  ;  forasmuch  as  twelve  days  in  this 
month  were  spent  in  sacrifices  to  Pluto,  in  behalf  of  the 
ghosts  of  the  dead  ;  these  days  of  atonement  being  call- 
ed Februa.  See  CALENDAR. 

MOON,  a  secondary  planet,  the  satellite  of  our  earth. 
The  mean  distance  of  the  moon  from  us,  is  about  two 
hundred  and  forty  thousand  miles ;  its  diameter  is  about 
two  thousand  three  hundred  and  twenty-six  miles  :  it 
revolves  about  the  earth  in  twenty-seven  days,  seven 
hours  and  forty -three  minutes  ;  which  is  a  lunar  month. 
It  was  a  doctrine  of  antiquity,  that  the  moon  possesses 
a.  degree  of  heat  which  will  not  only  evaporate  water, 
but  also  melts  ice.  "  The  moon  (says  Pliny)  produces 
thaw,  resolving  ice  and  frosts  by  the  humidity  of  her 
influence.*'  The  truth  of  this  theory  of  the  ancients,  as 
far  as  it  respects  the  moon  producing  evaporation,  has 
been  proved  by  the  following  modern  experiment.  Two 
vessels  full  of  water,  being  situated  in  the  following 
manner,  namely,  the  one  exposed  to  the  light  of  the 
moon,  and  the  other  placed  in  the  shade  ;  the  water  in 
the  first  ve,ssel  was  found  to  evaporate  sooner  than  that 
of  the  second.  It  is  said,  that  by  some  movement  of  the 
moon,  hitherto  not  accounted  for,  she  appears,  in  the 
polar  regions,  perpetually  above  the  horizon,  during 
the  long  absence  of  the  sun  :  this  was  observed  in  the 
year  1596,  at  Nova  Zembla,  by  the  unfortunate  Dutch- 
men, who  wintered  there,  in  the  seventy-sixth  degree 
of  north  latitude.  Another  curious  fact  is,  that  the 
moon  shines  more  brightly  on  some  parts  of  our  globe 
than  on  others.  In  the  island  of  Jamaica,  for  instance, 
the  moon  displays  far  greater  radiance  than  in  Europe  ; 
the  smallest  print  is  legible  by  her  light. — St.  Pierre, 
Bryan  Edwards. 

MOORS,  descendants  of  the  Carthagenians  and 
Arabs,  who  conquered,  and  for  many  centuries,  possess- 
ed a  considerable  part  of  Spain.  In  the  year  1 009, 
Philip  III.  at  the  instigation  of  the  inquisition,  issued  an 


MOORS.  £51 

edict,  ordering  all  the  Moors  to  leave  the  kingdom, 
\vithin  the  space  of  thirty  days,  under  the  penalty  of 
death.  These  remains  of  the  ancient  conquerors  of 
Spain  were  chiefly  employed  in  commerce  and  agri- 
culture ;  and  the  principal  reason  assigned  for  this  bar- 
barous decree  was,  that  they  were  still  Mahometans  in 
their  hearts,  though  they  conformed  outwardly  to  the 
rites  of  Christianity.  The  Moors  made  some  unavail- 
ing resistance,  but  being  almost  utterly  unprovided  with 
arms,  they  were  soon  obliged  to  submit,  and,  to  the 
number  of  near  a  million  industrious  people,  were  all 
banished  the  kingdom  ;  whence  they  fled,  in  the  utmost 
wretchedness,  into  Africa.  The  origin  of  the  Moorish 
tribes  in  the  interior  of  Africa,  seems,  according  to  the 
account  of  John  Leo  the  African,  to  have  been  this. 
Before  the  Arabian  conquests,  about  the  middle  of  the 
ninth  century,  all  the  inhabitants  of  Africa,  who  had 
descended  from  Numidians,  Phenicians,  Carthagenians, 
llomans,  Vandals,  or  Goths,  were  comprehended  under 
the  general  name  of  Jllauri,  or  JHoors9  that  is,  natives  of 
Mauritania,  the  ancient  name  of  Barbary.  All  these 
people  were  converted  to  the  religion  of  Mahomet, 
tin  ring  the  Arabian  empire  under  the  Caliphs  :  and 
many  of  them,  passing  the  great  desart,  settled  in  the 
interior  of  Africa.  There  is  reason  to  believe  that  their 
dominion  stretches  from  west  to  east,  in  a  narrow  line 
or  belt,  from  the  mouth  of  the  Senegal,  on  the  north 
side  of  that  river,  to  the  confines  of  Abyssinia.  They 
are  a  subtle  and  treacherous  race  of  people,  and  take 
every  opportunity  of  cheating  and  plundering  the  cred- 
ulous and  unsuspecting  negroes.  Among  these  Moors 
no  woman  is  thought  handsome  unless  she  is  very  cor- 
pulent ;  and  in  consequence  of  this  prevailing  taste  for 
largeness  of  bulk,  the  Moorish  women  take  great  pains 
to  acquire  corpulency  early  in  life  ;  insomuch  that 
many  of  the  young  girls  are  compelled  by  their  moth- 
ers to  devour  a  great  quantity  of  Kouskous,  and  drink  a 
large  bowl  of  camel's  milk  every  morning.  It  is  of  no 
importance  whether  the  girl  has  appetite  or  not  :  the 
Kouskous  and  milk  must  be  swallowed,  and  obedience 
is  frequently  enforced  by  blows.  A  celebrated  travel- 
ler says,  "  I  have  seen  a  poor  girl  sit  crying  with  the 
bowl  at  her  lips,  more  than  au  hour  5  and  her  mother, 


MOOSE— MORAL 

•with  a  stick  in  her  hand,  watching  her  all  the  while, 
and  using  the  stick  without  mercy,  whenever  she  ob- 
served that  her  daughter  was  not  swallowing."— Rus- 
sell, Park. 

MOOSE,  called  in  Europe,  Elk.  It  is  properly  an 
American  animal  ;  but  it  is  sometimes  taken  in  the 
German  and  Russian  forests.  The  head  of  the  moose 
is  large,  the  neck  short,  with  a  thick,  short,  and  up- 
right mane.  The  ears  are  a  foot  long  5  under  the 
throat  there  is  a  fleshy  protuberance  ;  the  upper-lip 
hangs  over  the  lower.  His  horns  when  full  grown  are 
about  four  or  five  feet  from  the  head  to  the  extremity, 
and  are  shed  every  year.  The  hoofs  of  the  moose  are 
cloven  ;  his  gait  is  a  long  shambling  trot  ;  his  course, 
very  shift,  and  straight  :  he  leaps  over  the  highest 
fences.  This  animal  is  generally  of  a  grey  light  brown, 
or  mouse  colour.  In  the  winter,  they  herd  together,  to 
the  number  of  twenty  or  thirty  in  a  company.  They 
prefer  the  coldest  places  ;  and  when  the  snow  is  deep, 
they  form  a  kind  oi  yard,  consisting  ol  several  acres,  in 
which  they  constantly  trample  down  the  snow,  that  they 
may  more  easily  range  round  their  yard  ;  and  when 
they  cannot  easily  come  at  the  grass,  they  live  on  the 
twigs  and  bark  of  the  trees.  Their  defence  is  chiefly 
with  their  fore  feet,  with  which  they  strike  with  great 
force.  One  of  these  animals  in  Vermont,  was  found  by 
measure  to  be  seven  feet  high.  The  largest  are  esti- 
mated by  the  hunters  to  weigh  thirteen  or  fourteen 
hundred  pounds. — Williams. 

MORA  I,  the  plaqe  of  burial  for  the  dead  chiefs,  and 
also  for  the  offering  of  sacrifices,  at  Otaheite,  and  the 
other  Society  Islands,  in  the  Pacific  Ocean.  The  Moral 
is  a  long  pile  of  stones,  about  thirteen  feet  in  height, 
and  contracted  towards  the  top,  witk  a  quadrangular 
area  on  each  side,  under  which  the  bones  of  the  chiefs 
arc  deposited.  Near  the  end  is  the  place  of  sacrifice, 
where  is  a  very  large  scaffold,  on  which  the  offerings  of 
fruits  and  other  vegetables  are  placed  5  but  the  animals 
arc  laid  on  a  smaller  one  ;  and  the  human  sacrifices  are 
interred  under  the  pavement.  There  is  a  heap  of 
at  one  end  of  the  large  scaffold,  with  a. sort  of 


MOREA— MOROCCO. 

platform  on  one  side.  On  this  they  deposit  all  the  skulk 
of  the  human  sacrifices,  which  they  take  up  after  they 
have  remained  under  ground  for  some  months.  It  i$ 
probable,  that  the  horrid  custom  of  offering  human  vic- 
tims prevails  in  most  of  the  islands  of  the  Pacific  Ocean, 
however  distant  from  each  other  some  of  them  may  be.— 
Cookers  Voyages. 

MOREA,  anciently  called  Peloponessus,  a  peninsula 
on  the  southern  part  of  Greece,  to  which  it  is  joined  by 
the  isthmus  of  Corinth:  it  is  one  hundred  and- eighty 
miles  in  length,  and  one  hundred  and  thirty  in  breadth. 
This  peninsula  is  a  part  of  the  European  Turkey.  The 
inhabitants  oppressed  for  many  centuries  by  tlie  most 
wretched  and  tyrannical  government  in  the  world,  have 
entirely  lost  the  spirit  of  their  ancestors.  No  spot  on 
the  globe  has  been  more  famed  for  genhis  and  valor 
than  the  ancient  Peloponessus.  On  the  isthmus  into 
the  peninsula,  stood  the  famous  city  of  Corinth  5  which 
was  tilled  with  temples,  palaces,  theatres,  porticoes,  and 
private  houses  equally  admirable  for  their  structures  5 
and  which  gave  birth  to  the  order  named  Corinthian, 
the  most  superb  in  architecture.  On  this  isthmus  were 
celebrated,  once  in  live  years,  the  Isthmian  Games, 
which,  like  the  Olympic  Games,  consisted  of  running, 
leaping,  wrestling,  throwing  the  quoit,  boxing,  driving 
the  chariot,  arid  riding  the  single  horse. — Walker,  Rus- 
sell. 

MOROCCO,  an  empire  of  Barbary,  in  Africa ;  bor- 
tlering  upon  the  Atlantic  Ocean  on  the  west,  and  upon 
the  Mediterranean  on  the  north  ;  extending^nearly  four 
hundred  miles  square.  The  inhabitants  are  tawny,  ro- 
bust, excellent  horsemen,  and  expert  with  the  lance  : 
they  are  Mahometans,  and  hold  under  their  rod  a  vast 
number  of  Christian  slaves.  Their  merchants  are  Jews, 
who  carry  on  a  great  trade,  by  caravans,  over  vast  de- 
sarts,  from  Morocco  to  the  negro  countries.  Morocco, 
fanned  by  the  cooling  winds  from  the  snowy  top  of 
Mount  Atlas,  enjoys  a  pure  and  temperate,  but  humid 
air ;  so  humid  as  to  cover  all  metals  quickly  with  rust. 
The  soil  is  extremely  fertile  ;  their  desarts  abound  with 
lions,  tigers,  and  serpents.  The  emperor,  *vho  is  ab- 

JL 


254  MOSS— MUFTI. 

solute,  is  able  to  bring  into  the  field  a  hundred  thousand 
fighting  men. — Walker. 

MOSS,  a  vegetable  that  grows  on  the  bark  of  trees. 
In  northern  Europe  the  moss  vegetates  beneath  the 
snow,  where  the  degree  of  heat  is  always  about  forty ; 
that  is,  in  the  middle,  between  the  freezing  point  and 
the  common  heat  of  the  earth  $  and  is,  for  many  months 
of  the  winter,  the  sole  food  of  the  rein-deers,  which  dig 
furrows  in  the  snow  to  find  it.  And  as  the  milk  and 
flesh  of  this  animal  is  almost  the  only  sustenance  which 
can  be  procured  during  the  long  winters  of  the  higher 
atitudes,  so  this  moss  may  be  said  to  support  some 
millions  of  mankind.  Moss  is  very  hurtful  to  fruit 
trees.  The  mosses  which  grow  on  the  bark  of  trees 
take  much  nourishment  from  them  ;  hence  it  is  observ 
ed,  that  trees  which  are  annually  cleared  from  moss 
with  a  brush,  grow  nearly  twice  as  fast.  In  the  cider 
countries  (in  England)  they  brush  their  apple-trees  an- 
nually. This  vegetable  loves  the  shade  :  it  is  observed 
that  moss  is  thickest  on  the  north  side  of  trees.  By 
this  mark  the  savages  of  America  know  their  course  in 
cloudy  weather,  and  many  of  our  hunters  have  learned 
of  them  to  travel  without  a  compass.-— Darwin,  Winler- 
botham. 

MUFTI,  the  High  Priest  of  the  Mahometan  religion. 
The  Mufti  is  sovereign  pontiff,  expounder  of  the  law 
of  Mahomed,  and  supreme  director  of  all  religious  con- 
cerns. He  is  regarded  as  the  oracle  of  sanctity  and 
\visdom  ;  and  having  an  extensive  authority,  both  over 
the  actions  and  consciences  of  men,  his  office  is  one  of 
the  most  dignified  and  lucrative  in  the  Turkish  empire. 
~—Hunter.  About  two  centuries  ago  there  was  a  great 
shaking  among  the  Mahomedans :  for  Mahomed,  hav- 
ing promised  to  come  and  visit  his  followers,  and  to 
translate  them  to  paradise  after  a  thousand  years,  this 
term  of  time  being  expired,  many  of  them,  particularly 
the  Persians,  began  to  doubt  and  to  suspect  the  cheat  5 
till  the  Mufti  told  them  that  it  was  a  mistake  in  the  fig- 
ure, and  assured  them,  that  upon  a  more  diligent  sur- 
vey of  the  records,  he  had  found  it  to  be  two  thousand 
instead  of  one. 


MULBERRY  TREE-MULLET— MUMBO  JUMBO.  25$ 

MULBERRY  TREE,  a  tree  of  vast  importance  to 
mankind  ;  as  its  leaves  are  food  for  the  silkworm,  which 
gives  employment  and  furnishes  clothing  to  millions 
of  people.  The  white  mulberry  may  be  raised  from 
the  seed  or  by  layers,  which  are  small  shoots  of  trees, 
or  limbs  bent  clown  and  buried  in  the  ground  ;  in  which 
method  they  make  mulberry  hedges  of  long  duration 
and  great  use  for  fences.  The  growth  of  this  tree  is  so 
rapid,  that  in  seven  years  it  will  grow  from  the  seed  to 
a  trunk  of  six  inches  diameter,  and  bears  plenty  of  fruit, 
which  is  rich  and  nourishing  food  for  hogs,  fowls,  &c. 
The  timber  is  very  firm,  as  durable  as  red  cedar,  and 
suitable  for  ship  timber  and  fence-posts :  the  tree  is  fa- 
vorable to  the  growth  of  vegetables  under  it,  and  forms 
a  most  delightful  shade.  Miss  Rhodes,  who  made 
some  ingenious  experiments  on  the  culture  of  silk,  has 
taken  notice  that  no  animal  seems  to  prey  upon  the 
mulberry  leaf,  except  the  silkworm  alone  ;  nor  did  she 
find  (after  trying  several  serts)  any  other  vegetable  that 
\vas  wholesome  to  the  silk  worm,  except  lettuce;  on 
which  the  worm  could  be  kept  in  perfect  health  four 
out  of  five  weeks,  that  is,  feeding  on  mulberry  leaves 
a  fifth  part,  the  residue  of  the  time  on  lettuce.— -Ameri- 
can Museum,  Academy  of  Arts. 

MULLET,  a  fish  of  a  delicious  flavour,  and  which, 
unlike  all  other  fishes,  is  charmecl?by  noise.  The  ne- 
groes of  Africa  avail  themselves  of  this  instinct  as  the 
means  of  catching  them.  They  tie  to  a  piece  of  wood 
surrounded  with  hooks,  a  sort  of  cornet  with  its  clap- 
per :  thus  furnished,  it  is  thrown  into  the  sea;  and  the 
motion  of  the  waves  tossing  about  the  cornet,  produces 
a  certain  noise  which  attracts  the  fish,  so  that  in  at- 
tempting to  lay  hold  of  the  piece  of  wood,  they  are 
caught  with  the  hooks. — St.  Pierre. 

MUMBO  JUMBO,  a  strange  minister  of  justice  in 
the  Maridingo  towns,  in  the  interior  of  Africa.  Here  it 
is  common  for  a  man  to  have  several  wives ;  among 
whom,  of  course,  there  are  frequent  and  bitter  coflten- 
tions ;  and  when  this  happens  a  person  disguised  in  a 
masquerade  habit,  announces  his  coming  by  loud  and 
dismal  screams  in  the  woods  near  the  town.  He  begins 


S5S  MUMMY— MUREX. 

his  yell  at  the  approach  of  night ;  and  as  soon  as  it  is 
dark  he  enters  the  town,  and  proceeds  to  the  Bentang, 
or  place  of  public  resort  £  at  which  all  the  inhabitants 
immediately  assemble.  The  wives,  however  loth,  dare 
not  refuse  to  appear  when  they  are  summoned  ;  and  the 
ceremony  begins  with  songs  and  dances,  which  continue 
till  midnight;  about  which  time  Mumbo  fixes  upon 
the  offender.  This  victim  being  thereupon  immediate- 
ly seized,  stripped,  and  tied  to  a  post,  and  severely 
scourged  with  Mumbo's  rod,  amidst  the  shouts  and  de- 
rision of  the  whole  assembly  ;  the  women  on  these  oc- 
casions being  the  loudest  in  their  exclamations  against 
their  unfortunate  sister. — Park. 

MUMMY,  an  Egyptian  embalmed  corpse.  Of  al! 
nations  the  ancient  Egyptians  carried  the  art  of  em- 
balming to  the  highest  perfection.  As  it  was  a  princi- 
ple of  their  religion  to  suppose  the  soul  continued  only 
coeval  to  the  duration  of  the  body,  so  they  tried  every 
art  to  extend  the  life  of  the  one,  by  preventing  the  dis- 
solution of  the  other.  In  this  practice  they  were  exer- 
cised from  the  earliest  ages  ;  and  the  mummies  they 
embalmed,  continue  in  great  numbers  to  the  present 
day.  In  the  early  part  of  the  eighteenth  century,  mum- 
mies were  purchased  from  Egypt  by  the  Europeans  for 
medicinal  uses.  At  that  time  a  thousand  imaginary  vir- 
tues were  ascribed  to  mummy,  for  the  cure  of  most 
disorders;  and  no  physician  thought  he  had  properly 
treated  his  patient  without  adding  this  to  his  prescrip- 
tion. Several  Jews,  both  of  France  and  Italy,  taking 
advantage  of  this  fashionable  folly,  found  out  the  art  of 
embalming  murnmy  so  exactly,  that  they,  for  a  long 
time,  deceived  all  Europe.  This  they  did  by  drying 
dead  bodies  in  ovens,  after  having  prepared  them  with 
myrrh,  aloes,  and  bitumen.  Thus,  for  a  time,  the  poor 
patients  had  to  swallow  not  only  part  of  the  Egyptian 
corpses,  but  also  of  those  in  their  own  neighborhood. — 
At  length  it  was  found  that  mummy  did  no  good  iu 
medicine,  but  harm. 

MUREX,  or  Purpura,  a  water  animal  of  a  wonderful 
nature  and  construction.  It  is  said  that  this  animal  fore- 
tees  tempestuous  weather,  and,  sinking  to  the  bottom 


MUSCADINE  GRAPE— MUSK— NANTUCKET.    257 

ot  the  sea,  adheres  firmly  to  sea-plants ,  or  other  bodies, 
by  means  of  a  substance  that  resembles  the  horns  of 
snails.  Above  twelve  hundred  of  these  fillets  have  been 
counted,  by  which  this  animal  fixes  itself;  and  when 
afloat,  it  contracts  these  little  fillets  between  the  basis 
of  its  points. — Dictionary  of  Jirts. 

MUSCADINE  GRAPE,  a  grape  of  unequalled  ex- 
cellence, produced  from  the  famous  Constantia  Vine,  of 
the  Cape  of  Good  Hope.  This  vine,  strarge  as  it  may 
seem,  succeeds  perfectly  only  on  a  small  spot  of  ground, 
situated  at  the  bottom  of  a  little  hill ;  whereas  the  ad- 
joining and  surrounding  vineyards  cannot  be  made  to 
produce  the  Muscadine  Grape  of  any  thing  like  the 
same  quality. — St.  Pierre. 

MUSK,  an  animal  that  is  found  in  large  herds,  in  the 
interior  parts  of  North  America,  on  the  west  side  of 
Hudson's  Bay.  It  is  somewhat  lower  than  a  deer,  but 
more  bulky.  It  has  short  legs,  humped  shoulders,  and 
red  hair,  very  fine,  and  so  long  as  to  reach  to  the  ground. 
Beneath  the  hair,  the  body  is  covered  with  exquisitely 
fine  wool;  and  the  stockings  which  are  made  of  it  are 
said  to  be"  even  finer  than^  silk.  With  hairs  from  its 
tail  the  Esquimaux  Indians  make  caps,  which  are  so 
contrived,  that  this  long  hair,  falling  round  their  faces, 
defends  them  from  the  bite  of  the  musquetoes.  The 
horns  are  two  feet  long,  and  two  feet  round  at  the  base  ; 
and  some  of  them  will  weigh  sixty  pounds. — Winter  ~ 
botliam. 


N. 


an  island  belonging  to  the  state  of 
Massachusetts  ;  situated  about  eight  leagues  southward 
of  Cape  Cod?  extending  fifteen  miles  in  length,  and 
eleven  in  breadth.  This  island  was  patented  in  the  year 
1671,  by  twenty-seven  proprietors,  under  the  province 
of  New  -York,  which  then  claimed  all  the  islands  from 
the  Neway  Sink  to  Cape  Cod.  They  found  it  so  uni- 
X  2 


258  NAPTHA— NATURE'S  DIKES. 

versa! ly  barren  and  unfit  for  cultivation,  that  they  mu- 
tually agreed  not  to  divide  it ;  as  each  could  neither  live 
on  or  improve  that  lot  which  might  fall  to  his  share. — 
They  then  cast  their  eyes  on  the  sea :  they  became 
fishermen ;  and  their  descendants  have  been  and  now 
are  among  the  most  enterprising  and  expert  mariners  ia 
the  world. — St.  John. 

NAPTHA,  an  oily  inflammable  substance  that  is 
found  floating  on  waters,  particularly  in  Persia.  When 
the  weather  is  thick  and  hazy,  the  Nap tha- Springs  (in 
Persia)  boil  up  the  higher,  and  the  naptha  often  takes 
fire  on  the  surface  of  the  earth,  and  runs  in  a  flame  in 
great  quantities  to  a  distance  almost  incredible.  In  clear 
weather  the  springs  do  not  boil  up  above  two  or  three- 
feet.  In  boiling  over,  this  oily  substance  makes  so 
strong  a  consistency  as  by  degrees  almost  to  close  the 
mouth  of  the  spring  sometimes  it  is  quite  closed,  and 
forms  hillocks  which  look  as  black  as  pitch.  Naptha  is 
used  among  the  poorer  sort  of  people  in  Persia,  as  we 
use  oil  in  lamps  ;  also  for  boiling  their  victuals  ;  but  it 
is  unpleasant  to  the  smell,  and  gives  food  that  is  boiled 
over  it  a  disagreeable  taste. — Gentleman's  Magazine. 

NATURE'S  DIKES.  The  Dikes  of  Holland,  for 
preventing  the  inundation  of  the  ocean,  are  justly  con- 
sidered as  an  astonishing  effort  of  human  industry;  but 
they  dwindle  into  nothing  in  comparison  with  the  ram- 
parts which  for  the  same  purpose,  have  been  raised  oil 
the  sea  coasts,  in  various  parts  of  the  world,  by  the  hand 
of  the  Almighty  Creator.  These  natural  fortifications 
against  the  inroads  of  the  sea,  are  chiefly  found  where 
they  are  most  needed.  Brazil,  in  particular,  opposes  to 
the  winds  which  blow  continually  from  the  east,  and  to. 
the  current  of  the  sea,  a  prodigious  rampart  of  rocks.* 
more  than  three  thousand  miles  long,  twenty  paces  broad 
at  the  summit,  and  of  an  unknowirthickness  at  the  base, 
This  enormous  dike  is  composed  of  one  solid  mass 
hwise,  as  has  been  ascertained  by  repeated  bor- 
:  and  it  would  be  impossible  for  a  vessel  to  get  in- 
-vz.il,  were  it  not  for  tne  several  inlets  which  nature 
has  formed,  eipressly?  as  it  would  seem,  for  that  pur 
&t.  Pierre,  See  NORWAY, 


NAUTILUS— NEW-BiUTAIN— NEW-CASTLE.    259 

NAUTILUS,  a  wonderful  little  sea  animal  that 
abounds  in  the  Mediterranean,  and  navigates  itself  in 
the  manner  of  a  boat  or  ship.  It  has  a  shell,  which, 
seems  no  thicker  nor  stronger  than  a  piece  of  paper. 
When  it  is  to  sail,  it  extends  two  arms  on  high  ;  and 
between  them  supports  a  membrane,  which  it  throws 
out  on  this  occasion  ;  this  membrane  serves  for  its  sail  ; 
and  the  two  arms  it  hangs  out  of  the  shell,  serve  as 
oars  ;  the  tail  being  the  Bidder  to  steer  by.  When  a 
storm  arises,  they  draw  in  their  sails  and  oars,  and  take 
in  such  a  quantity  of  water  as  makes  them  sink  ;  and 
when  they  would  rise  again,  they  expel  this  water 
through  holes  of  which  their  legs  are  full.  It  has  been 
imagined  that  men  first  learned  the  art  of  sailing  in 
vessels  from  what  they  saw  practised  by  this  surprising 
ani  in  ai . — Encyc  lopcedia . 

NEW-BRITAIN,  a  country  in  the  northern  parts  of 
America,  inhabited  bv  the  Esquimaux,  a  species  of  In- 
dians who  have  a  sallow,  olive  colour.  It  lies  round 
Hudson's  Bay  and  comprehends  Labrador  and  New 
North  and  South  Wales,  and  is  attached  to  the  govern- 
ment of  Lower  Canada.  The  Esquimaux  are  a  people 
remarkably  different  from  the  Indians  who  occupy  the 
other  parts  of  the  continent  of  America.  There  is  not 
much  room  to  doubt  that  they  were  derived  from  the 
north-west  parts  of  Europe  ;  that  they  are  the  same 
people  with  the  Greenlanders,  Laplanders,  Zemblans, 
and  Samojeds  ;  and  that,  like  them,  they  were  descend- 
ed from  the  Tartars  in  the  east. — Williams. 

NEW-CASTLE,  a  noted  town  in  England,  on  the 
river  Tyne  :  it  is  situated  in  the  centre  of  the  great 
collieries,  which  have  for  centuries  supplied  London, 
all  the  eastern,  and  most  of  the  midland  and  southern 
parts  of  the  kingdom,  with  coal.  The  first  charter 
which  was  granted  to  this  town  for  digging  coal  was  by 
Henry  III.  in  1239  ;  but,  in  1306,  the  use  of  coal  for 
fuel  was  prohibited  in  London,  by  royal  proclamation  ; 
chiefly  because  it  injured  the  sale  of  wood,  great  quan- 
tities of  which  were  then  growing  about  that  city.  Thi& 
prohibition,  however,  did  not  continue  long  :  and  we 
may  consider  coal  as  having  been  dug  and  exported 


200  NEW-ENGLAND. 

from  New-Castle  more  than  five  hundred  years.     This 
trade  and  navigation,  which  employs  fifteen  hundred 
•/is,  is  one  of  the  greatest  nurseries  of  seamen.— 
Walker. 

NEW-ENGLAND,  the  northern  and  eastern  portion 
of  the  United  States  ;  lying  between  forty-one  and 
about  forty-eight  degrees  north  latitude  ;  and  compre- 
hending the  states  of  New-Hampshire,  Massachusetts, 
Vermont,  Rhode-Island,  and*Connecticut.  The  three 
following  things  are  particularly  remarkable  respecting 
New-England,  or  some  parts  of  it.  First,  All  the  in- 
corporated towns  (particularly  of  Massachusetts  and 
Connecticut)  are  bound  by  law  to  support  schools  with- 
in themselves.  These  schools  are  supported  by  the 
joint  expense  of  the  inhabitants  of  each  corporation  or 
town,  who  are  taxed  for  the  maintenance  of  the  same, 
in  proportion  to  the  quantum,  of  every  man's  estate.— 
Accordingly  a  poor  man  with  a  large  family  of  children 
has  but  little  to  pay  for  their  schooling  ;  while  a  rich 
man  who  is  childless  must  pay  a  considerable  annual 
tax  for  the  education  of  the  children  of  the  poor.  Sec- 
ond, This  is  the  most  populous  portion  of  the  United 
States  ;  although  it  has  had  far  the  least  accession  to  its 
population  from  abroad  ;  as  foreigners  emigrating  to 
our  country?  seldom  settle  in  that  part  of  it,  unless  in 
some  of  the  principal  sea-port  towns.  Third,  A  part  of 
New-England,  namuly,  Massachusetts,  is,  by  reason  of 
the  fisheries,  the  great  and  perpetual  nursery  of  sea- 
inen.  And  of  what  vast  importance  this  circumstance 
might  be  to  the  whole  federal  union,  in  maritime  war- 
fare, provided  it  had  an  adequate  navy,  will  appear  from 
what  has  already  happened,  as  well  during  the  war  of 
revolution,  as  in  the  late  brilliant  achievements  of  our 
frigates.  It  is  stated  in  the  American  Museum,  as  a 
fact  proveable  by  public  records,  that  there  were  taken, 
brought  in,  and  libelled  in  the  maritime  court  of  three 
counties  of  Massachusetts,  during  the  revolutionary 
war,  one  thousand  and  ninety-eight  vessels  with  their 
<K;S,  belon«in«j  to  Great  Britain  ;  those  three  coun- 
ties comprising  the  ports  of  Boston,  Salem,  Beverly, 
Newburyport,  Mar'olciiead,  Gloucester,  Haverhill,  and 
Ipswich.  As,  by  an  all-wise  and  superintending  Provi- 


NEW-HAMPSHIRE—NEWFOUNDLAND.    261 

dence,  good  is  often  educed  from  evil :  so,  in  particu- 
lar, the  first  settlement  of  New -England  was  enforced, 
ns  it  were,  by  religious  persecution.  A  congregation 
of  dissenters  in  England,  exposed  to  the  penalties  of 
the  ecclesiastical  law,  and  extremely  harrassed,  first 
sought  refuge  in  Holland  ;  and,  after  twelve  years 
abode  there,  they,  to  the  number  of  a  hundred  and  one 
persons,  embarked  for  America,  and  planted  themselves 
at  Plymouth,  in  Massachusetts,  December,  1620.  The 
hardships  they  suffered,  and  the  fortitude  and  patience 
with  which  they  surmounted  them,  can  scarce  find  a 
parallel  in  the  pages  of  history. 

NEW-HAMPSHIRE,  one  of  the  United  States  of 
America  ;  situated  between  42®  41'  and  45°  11'  north 
latitude  ;  extending  in  length,  from  the  northern  to  the 
southern  extremity,  one  hundred  and  sixty-eight  miles  : 
its  greatest  breadth,  measured  from  the  entrance  of  Pas- 
cataqua  harbor  to  the  mouth  of  West  river,  which  falls 
into  Connecticut  river,  is  ninety  miles.  It  is  bounded  on 
the  south  by  Massachusetts  proper  5  on  the  east  by  the 
district  of  Maine  and  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  but  has  only 
about  eighteen  miles  of  sea-coast ;  on  the  north  by  the 
British  province  of  Lower  Canada  $  and  on  the  ^  <Tst  by 
Connecticut  river,  which  separates  it  from  Vermont :  its 
chief  town  is  Portsmouth.  As  New-Hampshire  has  but 
a  narrow  strip  of  sea-coast,  and  only  one  port,  and  is  in 
a  manner  embosomed  in  the  other  states,  the  most  of 
her  trade  is  engrossed  by  her  neighbors. —  Winterbo- 
tham. 

NEWFOUNDLAND,  an  island  of  North  America, 
belonging  to  Great  Britain  :  situated  on  the  east  side  of 
the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  between  46°  45'  and  51°  40' 
north  latitude  ;  extending  three  hundred  and  eighty -one 
miles  in  length,  and  from  forty  to  two  hundred  and 
eighty-seven  miles  in  breadth.  This  island  is  valuable 
chiefly,  for  the  great  fishery  of  cod  carried  on  upon  those 
•shoals,  which  are  called  the  banks  of  Newfoundland. 
The  fishery  on  those  banks  may  be  justly  esteemed  a 
mine  of  greater  value  than  any  of  those  of  Mexico  and 
Peru.  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States,  at  the  low- 
est computation,  annually  employ  three  thousand  sail  of 


£62          NEW-ORLEANS—NEW-YORK. 

small  craft  in  this  fishery  5  on  board  of  which,  and  on 
shore  to  cure  and  pack  the  fish,  are  upwards  of  a  hun- 
dred thousand  hands;  so  that  this  fishery  is  not  only  a 
valuable  branch  of  trade  to  the  merchant,  but  a  source 
of  livelihood  to  many  thousands  of  poor  people,  and  a 
most  excellent  nursery  for  seamen. — Morse. 

NEW-ORLEANS,  the  capital  of  Louisiana,  and  now 
belonging  to  the  United  States  of  America ;  situated  on 
the  east  side  of  the  Mississippi,  one  hundred  and  five 
miles  from  its  mouth,  in  latitude  30°  21'  north  :  it  was 
named  in  honor  of  the  duke  of  Orleans,  in  whose  re- 
gency it  begun  to  be  builded.  In  the  beginning  of  the 
year  1787  this  city  contained  about  eleven  hundred  hous- 
es, seven  eighths  of  which  were  consumed  by  fire  on  the 
19th  of  March,  1788.  It  has  been  in  a  considerable 
measure  rebuilt ;  and  possesses  great  advantages  for 
trade. — Winierbotham. 

^  NEW-YORK,  one  of  the  United  States  of  America  ; 
situated  between  40°  41'  and  45°  north  latitude  ;  ex- 
tending about  three  hundred  and  fifty  miles  in  length, 
and  three  hundred  in  breadth ;  bounded  on  the  east  by 
Connecticut,  Massachusetts  and  Vermont ;  on  the  norm 
by  the  forty -fifth  degree  of  latitude,  which  divides  it 
from  Canada  ;  on  the  north-west  by  the  river  St.  Law- 
rence, and  the  lakes  Ontario  and  Erie ;  and  on  the  south- 
west and  south  by  Pennsylvania  and  New-Jersey.  The 
Dutch  claimed  this  teritory  by  right  of  discovery :  cap- 
tain^ Henry  Hudson,  who  was  in  the  employ  of  the  Dutch 
East  India  Company,  having  sailed  up  the  river  that 
bears  his  name,  in  the  year  1609.  They  called  the 
country  Nova  Belgia,  or  New  Holland.  In  the  year 
1664,  an  English  squadron  sailed  to  North  America,  un- 
der the  command  of  Richard  Nicholas,  who  took  pos- 
session of  the  Dutch  settlement  of  Nova  Belgia,  after- 
wards called  New-York,  in  honor  of  the  duke  of  York, 
who  had  obtained  a  grant  of  it  from  Charles  II.  his  bro- 
ther. About  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century,  the 
whole  number  of  souls  in  the  province  of  New-York 
was  computed  at  a  hundred  thousand,  and  its  militia  at 
eighteen  thousand.  The  settlement,  at  that  time,  was 
in  a  manner  (confined  to  York  island,  and  narrow  strips 


NEW-YORK  CITY— NIAGARA.          265 

of  land  on  each  side  of  the  Hudson  and  Mohawk  rivers  ; 
and  the  city  of  New-York  paid  about  one  third  of  the 
public  taxes.  Since  the  termination  of  the  revolutiona- 
ry war,  the  population  of.  this  state  has  increased  with 
an  astonishing  rapidity.'— Russell^  Smith)  et  cet. 

NEW-YORK  CITY,  the  capital  of  the  state  of  the 
same  name.  It  is  situated  at  the  south-west  point  of 
York  Island,  which  is  fifteen  miles  in  length,  and  not 
exceeding  two  miles  in  breadth.  This  city  is  most  ad- 
mirably situated  for  a  convenient  and  extensive  com- 
merce 5  and  in  a  manner  commands  the  trade  of  a  ter- 
ritory, about  four  hundred  miles  in  length,  and  one  hun- 
dred and  thirty  in  breadth  ;  a  territory  fertile,  consist- 
ing now  of  more  than  a  million  people,  and  increasing 
rapidly  in  population  and  wealth.  The  number  of  in- 
habitants in  the  city  of  New-York,  taken  by  order  of  the 
king  of  England,  in  the  year  1697,  was  three  thousand 
seven  hundred  and  twenty-seven.  The  number  of  in- 
habitants in  the  city  and  county  of  New-York,  in  1756, 
was  ten  thousand  eight  hundred  and  eighty-one.  At 
that  period,  according  to  Smith's  history,  the  city  was  a 
mile  in  length,  and  not  above  half  a  mile  in  breadth.  In 
im,  the  number  was  twenty-one  thousand  eight  hun- 
dred and  sixty -three  5  in  1786,  twenty-three  thousand 
six  hundred  and  fourteen  ;  in  1790,  thirty -three  thou- 
sand one  hundred  and  thirty-one.  The  number  of  in^ 
habitants  now  in  the  city  (1810)  is  ninety-six  thousand 
three  hundred  and  seventy -two. 

NIAGARA,  a  Strait  and  a  Cxtaract.  The  strait  or 
river  of  Niagara,  which  separates  the  state  of  New- 
York  from  Upper  Canada,  proceeds  out  of  lake  Erie, 
and  running  about  thirty  miles,  empties  into  lake  Onta- 
.rio  ;  the  country  around  the  former  lake  being  elevated 
about  three  hundred  feet  above  that  which  surrounds 
the  latter.  Fort  Erie  is  at  the  junction  of  this  strait  with 
lake  Erie,  and  fort  Niagara  at  its  junction  with  lake  On- 
tario. These  two  important  fortresses  belong  to  the 
United  States.  The  cataract  of  Niagara  (the  most  sub- 
lime and  tremendous  cataract  in  the  known  world)  is 
at  the  distance  of  about  seven  or  eight  miles  from  lake 
Ontario  $  in  all  which  distance  a  chasm  is  formed,  which 


264        NIEPER— NIGER— NIGHTINGALE. 

no  person  can  approach  without  horror.  Down  this 
chasm  the  water  rushes  with  a  most  astonishing  veloci- 
ty, after  it  makes  the  great  pitch.  The  river  is  about 
one  hundred  and  thirty-five  rods  wide  at  the  falls,  and 
the  perpendicular  pitch  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet.  The 
fall  of  this  vast  body  of  water  produces  a  sound,  which 
is  frequently  heard  at  the  distance  of  twenty  miles,  and  a 
sensible  tremulous  motion  in  the  earth  for  some  rods 
round.  A  heavy  fog,  or  cloud,  is  constantly  ascending, 
in  which  rainbows  may  always  be  seen,  when  the  sun 
shines.  What  a  change  would  it  make  in  the  country 
below,  should  the  mountains  at  Niagara,  by  any  convul- 
sion, be  cleft  asunder,  and  a  passage  be  suddenly  open- 
ed to  drain  oft"  the  waters  of  Erie  aud  the  upper  lakes, — 
Jim.  Museum,  Ch.  Thompson. 

NIEPER,  anciently  the  Boristhenes,  a  large  river  of 
Europe,  which  in  its  whole  course,  above  eight  hundred 
miles,  flows  through  the  Russian  empire,  emptying  into 
the  Euxine,  or  Black  Sea.  On  both  sides  of  this  river 
is  the  Ukraine,  in  the  south  of  Russia,  and  bordering  on 
Turkey  :  it  is  one  of  the  most  fertile  countries  in  the 
world,  abounding  with  cattle  and  grain.  Wheat  sells 
here  from  one  to  two  shillings  sterling  a  bushel,  and 
'other  kinds  of  produce  in  proportion.  Here  live  the 
Cossacs,  a  Tartar  race,  large  and  robust,  with  blue  eyes, 
brown  hair  and  aquiline  noses  ;  a  people  terrible  in  bat- 
tle.—  Walker,  Bordley. 

NIGER,  called  the  Nile  of  Negroes  :  because,  like 
the  Egyptian  Nile,  it  annually  overflows  its  banks,  and 
fertilizes  the  countries  through  which  it  passes.  This 
is  a  majestic  river  of  Africa,  running  nearly  eastward. 
It  is  calculated  that  there  is  about  sixteen  hundred  and 
seventy  miles  of  water-course,  from  the  head  of  the  Ni- 
ger, above  Manding,  to  the  lakes  of  Warigara, into  which 
it  empties. — Rennet. 

NIGHTINGALE,  a  small  bird,  that  sings  only  in  the 
night,  and  continues  its  song,  without  intermission,  from 
evening  till  morning :  its  music  is  sweet  beyond  descrip- 
tion. It  generally  keeps  in  the  middle  of  a  thick  hedge 
or  bush,  so  as  to  be  rarely  seen  $  and  it  constantly  re- 


NIGHTSHADE— NIGU  A— NILE.          265 

sorts  to  the  same  place,  night  after  night,  for  weeks  to- 
gether. This  famous  bird  visits  the  south  of  England 
in  the  beginning  of  April,  and  leaves  it  in  August.  Its 
music  in  England  (though  delicious)  is  far  less  sweet 
than  in  Italy,  where  its  song  has  the  utmost  charms. 
Pliny  relates,  that  Seius,  a  Roman,  bought  a  white 
nightingale  as  a  present  for  the  empress  Agrippina,  at 
the  price  of  six  thousand  sesterii,  equal  to  about  fifty 
pounds  sterling. — Goldsmith,  £.  Smith. 

NIGHTSHADE,  a  plant  that  seems  to  derive  its 
imost  congenial  nourishment  from  the  effluvia  of  putri- 
fying  human  bodies,  as  it  grows  amid  the  mouldering 
bones  and  decayed  coffins  in  old  and  ruinous  burial 
vaults.  In  times  of  ignorance  when  magical  arts  were 
held  in  estimation,  this  plant  was  much  celebrated  in 
the  mysteries  of  witchcraft,  and  for  its  pretended  po- 
tency to  raise  the  devil. — Darwin. 

NIGU  A.  an  insect  so  extremely  minute  as  scarcely 
to  be  visible  to  the  naked  eye :  it  is  peculiar  to  the  Span- 
ish dominions  in  Peru  and  Carthagena.  This  insect 
breeds  in  the  dust,  insinuates  itself  into  the  soles  of  the 
feet  and  legs,  piercing  the  skin  with  such  subtilty* 
that  there  is  no  being  aware  of  it  before  it  has  made  its 
way  to  the  flesh.  If  it  is  perceived  in  the  beginning,  it 
is  extracted  with  but  little  pain  ;  but  having  once  lodged 
its  head,  and  pierced  the  skin,  the  patient  must  undergo 
the  pain  of  an  incision,  without  which  a  nodus  would  Be 
formed,  and  a  multitude  of  insects  engendered,  which 
would  soon  overspread  the  foot  and  leg.  One  species 
of  the  nigua  is  venomous,  and  when  it  enters  the  toe, 
an  inflammatory  swelling  takes  place  in  the  groin.— * 
Winterbotham. 

NILE,  a  celebrated  river  of  Africa,  which  rises  in  the 
mountains  of  Abyssinia,  runs  through  Egypt,  and  emp- 
ties into  the  Mediterranean  Sea,  anciently  by  eleven 
mouths,  but  at  present  only  by  two  that  are  navigable 
at  all  times  ;  and  these  are  at  Rosetta  antfDamietta.  Its 
annual  overflowings  arise  irom  a  very  obvious  cause, 
which  is  almost  universal  with  all  the  great  rivers  that 
take  their  rise  near  the  line.  The  rainy  season,  which. 


266        NINEVEH— NOOTKA  SOUND,  &c. 

is  periodical  in  those  climates,  floods  the  rivers ;  and, 
as  this  always  happens  in  our  summer,  so  the  Nile  is  at 
that  time  overflowed.  It  overflows  regularly  every  year, 
from  the  loth  of  June  to  the  17th  ot  September,  wher* 
it  begins  to  decrease.  During  the  inundation  of  the  riv- 
er, the  little  towns,  standing  upon  eminences,  look  like 
so  many  islands  ;  and  they  go  from  one  to  the  other  by 
boats.  When  the  river  does  not  rise  to  its  accustomed 
height,  the  Egyptians  prepare  for  an  indifferent  sea- 
son.— Goldsmith,  Walker. 

NINEVEH,  the  capital  of  the  Assyrian  empire;  a 
famous  city  of  old,  founded  by  Ashur,  son  of  Shem,  and 
grandson  of  Noah;  situated  on  the  banks  of  the  river 
Tygris,  in  Asia.  According  to  Diodorus,  a  very  ancient 
historian,  Nineveh  was  about  twenty  miles  long,  and 
twelve  miles  broad ;  being  more  than  sixty  miles  in  cir- 
cumference ,  and  by  the  account  of  the  same  author, 
its  walls  were  an  hundred  feet  high,  and  so  broad  that 
three  chariots  could  go  abreast  upon  them  ;  and  on  the 
walls  at  proper  distances,  were  fifteen  hundred  towers, 
each  measuring  two  hundred  feet  in  height.  About  six 
hundred  years  before  our  Saviour's  nativity,  this  mag- 
nificent city  was  utterly  destroyed  by  the  united  nations 
of  Babylon  and  Media,  which,  from  being  dependencies 
of  the  Assyrian  empire,  became  its  masters. 

NOOTKA  SOUND,  situated  on  the  Pacific  Ocean, 
in  the  north-west  coast  of  America,  due  west  of  the 
northern  parts  of  Canada.  The  natives  were  found  in 
possession  of  iron  and  beads ;  which  probably  were 
conveyed  to  them  across  the  continent  from  Hudson's 
Bay.  They  offered  to  Captain  Cooke,  as  articles  of  traf- 
fic, human  skulls,  and  hands,  with  some  of  the  flesh  re- 
maining on  them,  which  they  acknowledged  they  had 
been  feeding  on  ! — Cooke' s  Voyage, 

NORTH  AMERICA,  a  great  division  of  the  western 
continent,  >Hiich  was  discovered  in  1495,  by  John  Ca- 
bot, a  Venetian.  It  extends  from  the  isthmus  01'  Dari- 
en,  at  about  the  10th  degree  of  north  latitude,  to  the 
north  pole,  or  near  it ;  and  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pa- 
cific Ocean  5  'most  of  it  is  a  wilderness  inhabited  by  va- 


NORTH-CAROLINA— NORTH -E ASTERS,  &c.  267 

rious  tribes  of  savages.  The  provinces  in  North  Ameri- 
ca, claimed  by  European  nations,  are  West  Greenland, 
belonging  to  Denmark,  New  Britain,  Upper  and' Lower 
Canadas,  New  Brunswick,  and  Nova-Scotia,  together 
with  the  islands  of  Newfoundland,  Cape  Breton,  and 
St.  John's,  belonging  to  Great  Britain ;  and  East  and 
West  Floridas,  and  the  Mexicos,  or  New  Spain,  belong- 
ing to  the  crown  of  Spain.  There  is  probably  no  kind 
of  fruit  or  vegetable  but  may  be  cultivated  and  made  to 
flourish  in  some  part  of  North  America. 

NORTH-CAROLINA,  one  of  the  United  States  of 
America ;  bounded  north  by  Virginia,  east  by  the  At- 
lantic Ocean,  south  by  South-Carolina,  and  west  by  the 
state  of  Tennessee  ;.  situated  between  33°  50'  and  36* 
SO'  north  latitude ;  extending  about  four  hundred  miles 
in  length,  and  one  hundred  and  eighty  in  breadth.  Iti 
first  permanent  settlement  is  said  to  have  commenced, 
about  the  year  1710,  by  a  number  of  Palatines  from  Ger- 
many, wlio  had  been  reduced  to  circumstances  of  great 
indigence,  by  a  calamitous  war.  The  coasts  are  dan- 
gerous, by  reason  of  three  formidable  capes,  namely, 
Look-Out^  Hatteras,  and  Fear.  Much  of  tne  country  is 
fertile,  the  winter  is  mild,  and  it  is  said  there  is  no  part 
of  the  United  States  where  so  little  labor  is  requisite  for 
a  livelihood  :  the  county  of  Cabarrus,  in  this  state,  yields 
pure  virgin  gold,  which  has  been  coined  in  a  considera- 
ble quantity  at  the  mint  of  the  United  States. — Morse. 

NORTH-EASTERS,  stormy  winds  common  in  the 
Atlantic  seas,  on  the  coasts  ana  near  the  seaboard. 

NORWAY,  a  country  in  the  north  of  Europe,  the 
most  westerly  part  of  the  ancient  Scandinavia ;  it  was 
formerly  an  independent  kingdom,  but  is  now  united  to 
Denmark.  The  Norwegian  peasants  are  frank,  open, 
and  undaunted,  yet  not  insolent ;  never  fawning,  yet 
paying  proper  respect :  they  are  extremely  attached  to 
their  country,  which  is  cold,  barren,  rocky,  and  moun- 
tainous. We  are  informed  by  Pont  Oppidam,  a  bishop 
of  that  country,  that  the  coast  of  Norway,  which  is  near- 
ly three  hundred  leagues  in  length,  is,  for  the  most  part, 
steep,  angular,  and  pendent  5  so  that  the  sea  in  many 


308  NOVA-SCOTIA—NYMPHALA  NILUMBO— OAK. 

places,  presents  a  depth  of  no  less  than  three  hundred 
fathoms  close  in  shore.  This  has  not  prevented  nature 
from  still-ftirther  protecting  these  coasts,  by  a  multitude 
of  isles,  great  and  small.  I5y  such  a  rampart,  (says  the 
same  author)  consisting  of,  perhaps,  a  million,  or  more 
of  massy  stone  pillars,  founded  in  the  very  depth  of  the 
sea,  the  chapiters  of  which  rise  only  a  few  fathoms  above 
the  surface,  all  Norway  is  defended  to  the  west,  equally 
against  the  enemy  and  against  the  ocean.*—  Coxe^  St* 
Pierre.  See  NATURE'S  DIKES. 

NOVA-SCOTIA,  or  New  Scotland,  including  the 
province  of  New -Brunswick,  is  four  hundred  miles  in 
length,  and  three  hundred  in  breadth ;  situated  between, 
43°  SO7  and  49°  north  latitude ;  bounded  by  the  river 
and  gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  by  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  and 
by  a  part  of  Lower  Canada  and  the  district  of  Maine  ? 
it  has  a  sea-coast  of  ninety  leagues.  The  winter  is  long- 
er and  the  soil  not  so  good,  as  in  the  states  of  New-Eng- 
land. In  the  Bay  of  Fundy,  which  extends  fifty  leagues 
into  this  country,  the  ebb  and  flow  of  the  tide  is  from 
forty -five  to  sixty  ket.-~Winterbotbani>, 

NYMPHALA  NILUMBO,  an  aquatic  plant.  The 
surface  of  the  water  in  some  of  the  southern  states,  and 
in  the  Floridas,  is  sometimes  .covered  with  the  round 
floating  leaves  of  this  plant,  whilst  these  are  shadowed 
by  a  forest  of  higher  leaves  with  gay  flowers,  waving  to 
and  fro  on  flexible  stems,  three  or  umr  feet  high.  These 
"fine  flowers  are  double  as  a  rose,  and  when  expanded 
are  seven  or  eight  inches  in  diameter,  of  a  lively  lemon 
yellow  colour.  The  stems  bear  a  nut,  which,* when  full 
grown,  is  sweet  and  pleasant,  tasting  like  chesnuts.— -* 
JBartrcnn. 


O. 

I_FAK,  a  valuable  and  majestic  tree,  common  in  Eu- 
rope and  the  United  States  of  America.  This  tree, 
which  is  emiriently  useful  in  building,  and  particularly 


OBI— OBONNEY.  £6$ 

in  naval  architecture,  is  remarkable  for  the  slowness  of 
its  growth,  its  great  bulk,  and  longevity.  It  has  been 
observed,  that  the  trunk  attains,  in  general  only  four- 
teen inches  in  diameter,  in  the  course  of  eighty  years ; 
but,  after  arriving  at  a  certain  age,  its  bulk  rapidly  in- 
creases. Dr.  Darwin  mentions  the  Swilcar  oak,  a  very 
large  tree  growing  in  Needwood  forest,  (England)  which 
measures  thirty-nine  feet  in  circumference  at  its  base, 
and  which  is  believed  to  be  six  hundred  years  old.  The 
trunk  of  an  oak  belonging  to  lord  Powis,  and  growing 
in  Broomfield  wood,  measured  in  1764,  sixty -eight  feet 
in  girth,  and  twenty-three  feet  in  length  ;  containing  in 
the  whole  fourteen  hundred  and  fifty-live  feec  of  timber, 
round  measure.  The  bark  of  oak  is  used  in  tanning, 
and  its  galls  in  dying,  and  for  making  an  excellent  black 
ink.— Dom.  Encyclopaedia. 

OBI,  a  word  of  African  origin,  signifying  sorcery  or 
witchcraft.  Among  the  negroes  brought  from  Africa 
to  the  West-Indies,  there  are  Obiah  men,  who  exercise 
the  powers  of  Obi,  or  practise  the  arts  of  divination. 
The  Obi  is  composed  of  a  farrago  of  materials,  among 
which  are  the  following,  namely,  blood,  feathers,  parrots' 
beaks,  dog's  teeth,  alligators'  teeth,  broken  bottles,  grave 
dirt,  rum,  and  egg  shells.  The  negroes  generally  be- 
lieve in  the  power  of  Obi,  and  often  consult  the  Obiah 
men  and  women.  This  practice  had  such  pernicious 
consequences  in  Jamaica,  that  severe,  and  even  capital 
punishments  were  enacted  against  it.  The  Obi  magic 
is  thought  to  have  originated  in  the  worship  of  a  serpent 
in  ancient  Egypt.  t;  A  serpent,  in  the  Egyptian  lan- 
guage, (says  the  learned  Mr.  Bryant)  was  called  Ob  ; 
and  Obian  is  still  the  Egyptian  name  for  a  serpent." — 
Moses  in  the  name  of  God  forbids  the  Israelites  ever  to 
enquire  of  the  demon  Ob,  which  is  translated  in  our  bi- 
ble Gizzard.  The  woman  (or  witch)  of  Endor  is  called 
(in  the  original)  Oub  or  Ob  ;  and  Oubaios  was  the  name 
of  the  basilisk  or  royal  serpent,  emblem  of  the  sun,  and 
an  ancient  oracular  deity  of  Africa.— Bryan  Edwards. 

OBONNEY,   a  malicious  deity,  worshipped  by  the 
negroes  of  the  gold  coast,  in  Africa.     They  Relieve  that 
Obonney  pervades  heaven,  earth,  and  sea  5  that  he  is 
Y  2 


OCEAIST. 

the  author  of  all  evil ;  and  that  when  his  displeasure  is 
signified  by  the  infliction  of  pestilential  disorders,  or 
otherwise,  nothing  will  appease  him  but  human  sacri- 
fices ;  which  they  select  from  captives  taken  in  war, 
or  if  there  be  none  present,  then  from  their  slaves. — 
Bryan  Edwards. 

OCEAN,  that  vast  sheet  of  water  which  separates 
the  continents,  and  extends,  probably  quite  from  the 
northern  to  the  southern  pole.  Strictly  speaking,  there 
is  but  one  ocean  ;  the  different  parts  of  which  have  dif- 
ferent names.  That  part  of  the  ocean  which  lies  be- 
tween America  on  the  west  and  Europe  and  Africa  on 
the  east,  is  called  the  Mantle  Ocean,  and  is  about  three 
thousand  miles  wide.  That  part  which  lies  between 
America  and  Asia  is  called  the  Pacific  Ocean  ;  a  name 
given  by  Magellan,  because  he  found  it  remarkably 
placid.  This  is,  in  some  places,  about  ten  thousand 
miles  over ;  but  it  is  stated  in  Cooke's  Voyages,  that 
in  the  latitude  66°  north,  where  the  American  and  Asi- 
atic continents  are  at  the  nearest  approach,  there  runs 
between  them  only  a  strait,  of  thirteen  leagues  across  ; 
thence  proceeding  north,  the  two  continents  diverge, 
and  in  the  latitude  of  69°  their  distance  from  each  other 
is  about  three  hundred  miles.  That  part  of  the  ocean: 
which  extends  from  the  eastern  shores  of  Africa  to  the 
southern  shores  of  Asia,  is  called  the  Indian  Ocean, 
and  is  three  thousand  miles  wide.  That  part  which 
stretches  from  the  southern  parts  of  Africa  toward  the 
south  pole,  is  called  the  Southern  Ocean,  and  is  about 
eight  thousand  and  five  hundred  miles  over;  and  that 
part  which  lies  northward  of  Europe  and  Asia,  is  called 
the  Northern  or  Frozen  Ocean,  and  is  three  thousand 
miles  wide.  Although  the  water  of  the  ocean  posseses 
a  kind  of  saltness,  it  is  not  a  pickle  ;  for  animal  sub- 
stances quickly  dissolve  in  it,  and  it  is  itself  as  liable  as 
other  water  to  putrification  ;  from  which  it  is  preserved, 
)iot  by  its  saltness,  but  by  tides,  winds,  and  tempests. 
The  bed  of  the  ocean,  like  dry  land,  appears  to  consist 
of  mountains,  hills,  plains,  and  vallies ;  its  average 
depth,  as  far  as  has  been  ascertained  by  numerous 
soundings,  Is  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile. — St.  Pierre ^  et 
ceteri. 


ODIN— OHIO  RIVER— OHIO  STATE.      271 

ODIN,  or  Woden,  the  divinity  of  the  ancient  Saxons, 
Normans,  Scandinavians,  anc^jDanes,  who  were  the  an- 
cestors of  the  present  British  nation  and  of  the  Anglo- 
Americans.  They  painted  him  as  the  god  of  terror, 
the  author  of  devastation,  the  father  of  carnage  5  and 
they  worshipped  him  accordingly.  They  sacrificed  to 
him,  when  successful,  some  of  the  captives  taken  in 
\var  5  and  they  believed  those  heroes  would  stand  high- 
est in  his  favor  who  had  killed  most  enemies  in  the  field ; 
that  after  death,  the  brave  would  be  admitted  into  his 
palace,  and  there  have  the  happiness  of  drinking  beer 
(the  favorite  liquor  of  the  northern  nations,)  out  of  the 
skulls  of  their  slaughtered  foes.  The  fourth  day  of  our 
week,  or  Wednesday,  took  its  name  from  this  heathen 
deity,  called  Wodin  by  the  Saxons. — RussdL 

OHIO  RIVER,  a  fine  river  of  the  United  States  of 
America,  which  has  its  source  in  the  Allegany  moun- 
tains, and  is  called  the  Allegany,  till  its  junction  with 
the  Monongahela,  at  Pittsburgh,  where  it  first  receives 
the  name  of  Ohio.  It  measures  in  all  its  meanders  but 
little  short  of  twelve  hundred  miles  in  length,  and  falls 
into  the  Mississippi.  It  is  an  excellent  river  for  naviga- 
tion with  large  boats,  except  at  the  rapids  or  fails,  which 
are  four  hundred  and  eighty -two  miles  from  its  conflu- 
ence with  the  Mississippi.  It  is  one  of  the  most  de- 
lightful rivers  in  the  world,  whether  we  consider  it  for 
its  meandering  course  through  .an  immense  region  of 
forests,  for  its  clean  and  elegant  banks,  which  aftbrd  in- 
numerable pleasant  situations  for  cities,  villages,  and 
improved  farms,  or  for  its  gentle  current,  clear  waters, 
and  smooth  bosom  which  truly  entitle  it  to  the  name 
originally  given  it  by  the  French,  of  IAI  Belle  Reviere; 
or  the  beautiful  river.  It  is  a  quarter  of  a  mile  wide  at 
Pittsburgh. 

OHIO  STATE,  was  admitted  into  the  union  in 
1803  ;  is  situated  between  39°  and  42°  north  latitude, 
and  lies  between  the  Ohio  river  on  the  south,  and  the 
lakes  Michigan  and  Erie  on  the  north  :  it  borders  on 
the  west  line  of  Pennsylvania.  The  district  called 
New -Connecticut  is  comprehended  in  the  state  of  Ohio  5 
and  is  bounded  on  the  north  by  lake  Erie,  and  extends 


2~2       OLIVE  TREE—OLYMPIC  GAMES. 

south  on  the  west  line  of  Pennsylvania,  to  within  about 
four  hundred  miles  of  Pittsburgh.  The  general  face 
of  this  country  is  level,  and  the  soil  uncommonly  rich 
and  deep.  The  climate  of  that  part  of  the  state  called 
New -Connecticut  (according  to  Volney)  corresponds 
with  the  climate  of  Maryland  ;  although  it  lies  in  a  con- 
siderably higher  latitude.  Mills  are  erected  in  various 
parts  of  this  district ;  schools  are  established,  and  a 
charter  obtained  for  a  college. 

OLIVE  TREE,  a  very  useful  tree  that  grows  not 
only  in  Asia,  but  in  the  southern  parts  of  Europe,  espe- 
cially Italy,  France,  Spain,  and  Portugal  ;  where  it  is 
cultivated  to  a  very  considerable  extent  on  account  of 
its  fruit,  from  which  the  sweet  or  sallad  oil  is  extracted, 
and  which  also,  when  pickled,  forms  an  article  of  food. 
The  trees  are  planted  from  fifteen  to  twenty  feet  apart, 
and  when  tolerably  good,  will  yield  fifteen  or  twenty 
pounds  of  oil  yearly,  one  with  another.  Olive  oil  is 
used  as  food  ;  and  medicinally  considered,  has  lately 
been  found  an  excellent  preventive  of  the  plague,  when 
rubbed  over  the  whole  body  immediately  after  the  con- 
tagion has  taken  place.  It  is  also  beneficially  employ- 
ed for  recent  colds,  coughs,  hoarseness,  &c. — Willich. 

OLYMPIC  GAMES,  games  celebrated  at  Olympia, 
in  ancient  Greece,  in  honor  of  Jupiter.  These  games 
were  begun  thirty-eight  years  after  the  time  when  Mo- 
ses led  the  children  of  Israel  out  of  Egypt,  and  were 
continued  till  after  the  commencement  of  the  Christian 
era.  They  were  attended  at  fixed  periods,  and  with 
such  regularity,  that  they  became  the  great  standard  by 
which  the  Greeks  computed  time  $  each  Olympiad  be- 
ing four  years.  During  the  games,  wars  and  animosi- 
ties between  the  numerous  petty  states  of  Greece,  ceas- 
ed ;  and  the  people  came  together  from  the  remotest 
parts  of  their  country,  and  always  met  in  harmony,  how 
much  soever  at  variance  they  were  at  other  times.— « 
One  only  of  all  the  competitors  could  obtain  the  prize, 
which  was  merely  a  garland  or  crown  of  fresh  leaves 
or  fiowers  ;  yet  was  it  sufficient  to  give  the  victor  im- 
mortal renown  in  all  the  states  of  Greece.  These  games 
consisted  of  running,  leaping,  wrestling,  throwing  the 


ONION  RIVER-ONTARIO  LAKE-ORDEAL,    273 

quoit,  and  boxing  ;  to  which  were  added,  in  more  pol- 
ished times,  the  chariot  race,  and  the  korse  race.  There 
are  beautiful  allusions  to  the  Olympic  and  to  the  Isth- 
mean  Games,  in  the  writings  of  St.  Paul. 

ONION  RIVER,  one  of  the  finest  streams  in  Ver- 
mont. It  rises  about  fourteen  miles  to  the  west  of  Con- 
necticut river,  and  thirty  miles  to  the  east  of  the 
heights  of  the  Green  Mountains.  It  runs  through  a 
most  fertile  country,  the  produce  of  which  for  several 
miles  on  each  side  the  river,  is  brought  down  to  lake 
Champlain,  at  Burlington.  It  was  along  this  river,  that 
the  Indians  formerly  travelled  from  Canada,  when  they 
made  their  attacks  upon  the  frontier  settlements  on 
C  onnecticut  river.*—  Williams. 

ONTARIO  LAKE,  one  of  that  grand  chain  of  lakes 
\vhich  divide  the  United  States  from  Upper  Canada. — 
It  is  situated  between  latitude  43°  15'  and  44°  north  ; 
and  is  about  six  hundred  miles  in  circumference.  The 
division  line  between  the  state  of  New-York  and  Cana- 
da, on  the  north  passes  through  this  lake,  and  leaves 
within  the  United  States  two  million  three  hundred 
and  ninety  thousand  acres  of  the  water  of  the  lake  On- 
tario, according  to  the  calculation  of  Mr,  Hutching.— ~ 
Morse. 

ORDEAL,  an  ancient  method  of  trial  which  pre- 
vailed in  England  and  other  parts  of  Europe,  during 
the  dark  ages  of  popery.  The  ordeal  was  practised  by 
the  Anglo-Saxons  in  England,  either  by  boiling  water 
or  red  hot  iron.  The  water  or  iron  was  consecrated  by 
many  prayers,  masses,  fastings,  and  exorcisms  ;  after 
which  the  person  accused  either  took  up  with  his  na- 
ked hand,  a  stone  sunk  in  the  water  to  a  certain  depth, 
or  carried  the  iron  to  a  certain  distance.  The  hand  was 
immediately  wrapped  up,  and  the  covering  sealed  for 
three  days  ;  and  if  on  examining  it  there  appeared  no 
marks  of  burning  or  scalding,  the  person  accused  was 
pronounced  innocent  5  if  otherwise,  he  was  declared 
guilty. 


*74         OROMANES— ORKA—ORLEANS. 

OROMANES,  in  pagan  mythology,  the  Good  Prin- 
ciple of  the  ancient  Persians,  which  they  held  to  be  a 
supreme,  eternal,  and  independent  being,  who  created 
light  and  darkness.  The  Evil  Principle  of  the  Persians 
was  *Qrimanus,  who,  they  believed,  derived  his  origin 
from  darkness  ;  and  though  opposed  in  every  thing  to 
the  purposes  of  Oromanes,  yet,  in  spite  of  himself, 
ministers  continually  to  his  glory  ;  and  that  thence  the 
mixture  of  good  and  evil  is  derived.  This  contest  they 
supposed  would  last  to  the  end  of  the  world  ;  when  the 
light  would  be  separated  from  darkness,  and  the  right- 
eous and  the  wicked  recompensed  according  to  their 
deserts. — Millot. 

ORKA,  a  plant  that  is  cultivated  in  the  West-Indies 
as  a  substitute  for  coffee.  The  seeds  are  to  be  drilled 
in  rows,  three  feet  apart,  and  a  foot  and  a  half  in  the 
rows.  The  green  pods  are  fit  for  culinary  purposes, 
chiefly  in  soups  5  for  which  when  they  begin  to  harden, 
they  become  unsuitable.  An  acre  will  produce  about 
fifteen  hundred  pounds  of  seed,  or  Orka  Coffee;  which 
some  of  the  West-India  planters  prefer  to  the  common 
coffee.  It  has  been  tried  by  way  of  experiment  in  New- 
Jersey,  particularly  by  Mr.  Boudinot  ;  and  is  said  to 
have  surpassed  expectation. — Bordley. 

ORLEANS,  an  ancient  city  of  France,  signalised  for 
the  following  event.  In  the  year  1430,  this  city  was  be- 
sieged by  an  English  army  under  the  command  of  the 
Duke  of  Bedford.  When  it  was  on  the  point  of  sur- 
rendering to  the  besiegers,  a  country  girl,  whose  name 
was  Joan  d'Arc,  seized  with  an  unaccountable  enthusi- 
asm, flew  to  its  relief.  She  entered  the  city  of  Orleans, 
arrayed  in  a  military  garb,  and  displayed  a  consecrat- 
ed standard  ;  and  her  presence  and  conduct  so  animat- 
ed the  garrison  and  dispirited  the  English,  that  the  lat- 
ter were  obliged  to  raise  the  siege  ol  that  city,  after  be- 
ing driven  from  their  intrenchments,  and  defeated  in 
several  desperate  attacks.  Joan  was  soon  after  taken 
prisoner  ;  and  the  duke  of  Bedford  ordered  her  to  be 
tried  by  an  ecclesiastical  court,  for  impiety,  idolatry, 
and  magic.  t  She  was  found  guilty  by  her  ignorant  or 
iniquitous  judges  $  and  this  admirable  heroine  was  cru« 


ORONOKO— OSTRACISM.  275 

elly  delivered  over  alive  to  the  flames  ;  and  expiated 
by  the  punishment  of  fire,  the  signal  services  which  she 
had  rendered  her  prince  and  native  country. 

ORONOKO,  a  vast  river  of  $outh  America,  said  to 
be  nearly  fourteen  hundred  miles  in  length,  including 
its  wanderings,  and  which  discharges  its  waters  into  the 
Atlantic  Ocean,  almost  opposite  to  the  island  of  Trini- 
dad ;  constantly  maintaining,  b^  the  flood  poured  forth 
from  its  mouth,  a  dreadful  conflict  with  the  tide  of  the 
ocean.  This  river  annually  rises  and  falls  ;  in  its  nar- 
rowest part,  rising  to  the  prodigious  height  of  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty  teet  :  but  where  its  bed  is  very  wide, 
its  rise  is  proportionally  less.  Travellers  have  report- 
ed that  the  native  Indians  on  the  banks  of  the  Oronoko, 
during  the  inundation,  traverse  the  country  in  all  direc- 
tions in  their  canoes,  picking  the  fruits  from  the  top- 
most branches  at  their  ease  ;  and  that  some  of  them 
have  acquired  the  habit  of  dwelling  on  the  tops  of  trees, 
— St.  Pierre. 

OSTRACISM,  a  law  in  the  republic  of  Athens, 
which  required  the  banishment  of  any  citizen  when  six 
thousand  of  the  people  should  vote  for  his  expulsion ; 
the  whole  number  of  voters  in  the  republic  being  about 
twenty  thousand.  Each  voter  wrote  the  name  of  the 
citizen  that  was  to  be  banished,  on  a  shell,  called  Gstra- 
kon,  in  Greek  $  and,  after  all  the  shells  were  deposited 
together  according  to  law,  they  were  counted  by  per- 
sons appointed  for  that  purpose.  Envy,  jealousy,  and 
intrigue,  caused  the  banishment  of  several  of  the  most 
excellent  and  illustrious  citizens  of  Athens,  and  such 
even  as  had  been  the  defenders  and  saviours  of  the  re- 
public ;  among  whom  was  Aristides,  a  most  excellent 
patriot,  statesman  and  general.  It  happened  at  the 
time  when  this  great  man  and  incorruptible  patriot  was 
marked  as  the  victim  of  popular  jealousy,  that  an  illite- 
rate peasant  who  was  unacquainted  with  his  person,  pre- 
sented him  with  a  shell,  desiring  him  to  write  the  name 
of  Aristides  upon  it.  What  injury  (said  the  noble  Gre- 
cian to  him)  has  Jlr  1st  ides  done  you  ?  JV'owe  at  all  (re- 
plied the  peasant)  but  I  am  tired  of  hearing  him  inces- 
santly called  the  just.  Aristides  without  revealing  him- 


OSTRICH— OTAHEITE. 

self,  took  the  fatal  shell,  wrote  on  it  his  own  name,  and 
gave  it  back  to  the  peasant,  to  be  carried  to  the  general 
repository.  He  received  his  sentence  of  banishment 
for  ten  years  with  resignation  ;  saying  at  setting  out 
on  his  exile,  /  pray  tfte  gods  may  not  suffer  the  Jltlieni- 
ans  to  have  cause  to  remember  Jlristides. 

OSTRICH,  a  native  of  the  hot  regions  of  Africa,  and 
is  the  largest  of  all  birds,  except  the  Contour  of  Amer- 
ica. It  is  commonly  seven  feet  high  from  the  top  of  the 
head  to  the  ground  5  from  the  back  only  four  feet.  Its 
egg  weighs  more  than  fifteen  pounds.  It  seems  formed 
to  live  in  burning  desarts  ;  and  no  substance  is  too 
coarse  for  its  food,  or  too  hard  for  its  digestion.  The 
ostrich  cannot  fly  ;  his  wings  are  too  small  to  bear  up 
his  body  ;  but  they  assist  him  greatly  in  running,  and 
no  animal  runs  so  swiftly.  This  is  a  most  stupid  bird, 
and,  like  the  gull,  is  easily  taken  by  stratagem.  The 
Arabs  sometimes  clothe  themselves  for  war  with  the 
ostrich's  skin,  which  is  thick  and  firm,  and  they  eat  its 
flesh  and  eggs  :  its  feathers  are  in  great  demand. — 
Goldsmith.  It  is  affirmed  by  Vaillant,  that  the  ostrich 
separates  her  eggs,  lays  three  before  her,  and  sits  on 
the  rest,  and  after  hatching,  that  she  feeds  her  young 
with  the  contents  of  the  three  eggs  aforementioned. 

OTAHEITE,  one  of  the  Society  Islands  in  the 
South  Pacific  Ocean,  about  ninety  miles  in  circumfer- 
ence :  it  was  thrice  visited  by  Captain  Cooke.  Here 
grow  the  bread-fruit  trees,  palms,  cocoanut  trees,  mul- 
berries, bananas,  sugar-canes,  &c.  The  people  have 
mild  features  and  a  pleasing  countenance.  They  are 
about  the  largest  size  of  the  Europeans,  of  a  clear  olive 
or  brunette  complexion,  with  fine  black  hair  and  eyes. 
No  language  seemed  easier  to  acquire  than  theirs  ;  ev- 
ery harsh  and  hissing  consonant  being  banished  from 
it,  and  almost  every  word  ending  in  a  vowel.  They 
wear  a  piece  of  cloth  around  their  middle,  of  their  own 
manufacture,  and  another  wrapped  about  the  head,  in 
various  picturesque  shapes,  like  a  turban.  The  wo- 
men, who  are  accounted  very  handsome,  wear  a  piece 
of  cloth,  with  a  hole  in  the  middle,  through  which  they 
pass  their  heads,  so  that  one  part  of  the  garment  hangs 


OTTER.  277 

down  behind,  and  the  other  before,  to  the  knees :  a  fine 
white  cloth,  like  muslin,  passes  over  this,  in  various  el- 
egant turns  round  the  body,  a  little  below  the  breast, 
forming  a  kind  of  tunic,  of  which  one  turn  sometimes 
falls  gracefully  across  the  shoulders.  Their  cloth  is 
made  of  the  fibrous  bark  of  the  mulberry  tree,  which  is 
beaten  with  a  kind  of  mallet;  and  a  sort  of  glue  is  em- 
ployed to  make  the  pieces  of  bark  cohere  together. 
Some  of  these  pieces  are  two  or  three  yards  wide,  and 
fifty  yards  long ;  and  are  commonly  coloured  red  and 
yellow :  the  red  is  exceedingly  beautiful,  and  of  a 
brighter  and  more  delicate  colour  than  any  known  in 
Europe.  It  is  remarkable  that  these  ingenious  artists 
had  not  invented  any  method  of  boiling  water  5  and  had 
no  idea  that  water  could  be  made  hot.  Their  agility  in 
smimming,  diving,  and  climbing  trees,  is  astonishing ; 
and  their  general  honesty  and  confidence  in  each  other 
appear  in  this,  that  their  houses  are  left  entirely  open, 
without  either  doors  or  bars.  Nothing  so  much  excited 
the  curiosity  and  astonishment  of  the  people  of  Ota- 
heite,  as  seeing  Captain  Cooke  and  his  men  riding  on 
horseback.  This  was  to  them  a  novel  sight :  and  it 
was  thought  that  it  conveyed  to  them  a  better  idea  o£ 
the  greatness  of  other  nations,  than  all  the  novelties  that 
the  European  vessels  had  carried  among  them.  It  is  a 
painful  idea,  that  this  people,  so  gentle,  so  hospitable, 
and,  in  other  respects  humane,  should  be  so  under  the 
influence  of  a  detestable  superstition  as  to  offer  up,  and 
that  frequently,  sacrifices  of  human  flesh. — Cookers 
Voyages,  Foster.  See  MORAL 

OTTER,  an  animal  of  great  activity  and  fierceness. 
When  it  is  full  grown  it  is  four  or  five  feet  long,  with 
sharp  and  strong  teeth,  short  legs,  and  membranes  in 
his  feet ;  and  fitted  either  for  running  or  swimming. 
The  otter  has  generally  been  ranked  among  the  am- 
phibious animals  which  can  live  either  in  the  air  or  wa- 
ter; but  he  is  not  properly  an  amphibious  animal ;  for 
he  cannot  live  without  respiration  any  more  than  land 
animals.  The  fierceness  and  strength  of  the  old  otters 
are  such,  that  a  dog  can  seldom  overcome  them;  and 
when  they  cannot  escape,  they  will  attack  the  hunter 
with  great  rage.  The  colour  of  this  animal  is  black, 
Z 


-578        OURANG  OUTANG— OWHYHEE. 

and  its  fur  is  much  esteemed.  Formerly  they  abound- 
ed in  the  creeks  and  rivers  which  empty  into  lake 
Champlain ;  for  which  reason  one  of  them  bears  the 
name  of  Otter  creek;  but  the  animal  is  now  become 
scarce. — Williams. 

OURANG  OUTANG,  an  animal  of  the  monkey 
kind,  which,  in  looks,  nearly  approaches  to  the  human 
race.  It  walks  erect ;  its  height  is  from  three  to  seven 
feet.  In  general,  however,  its  stature  is  less  than  that 
of  a  man  ;  but  its  strength  and  agility  much  greater. 
fci  I  have  seen  it  (says  Mr.  Bufifon)  give  its  hand  to  shew 
the  company  to  the  door.  I  have  seen  it  sit  at  table>  un- 
fold its  napkin,  wipe  its  lips,  make  use  of  the  spoon  and 
fork  to  carry  the  victuals  to  its  mouth,  pour  out  its  drink 
into  a  glass,  touch  the  glasses  when  invited,  take  a  cup 
and  saucer,  and  lay  them  on  the  table,  put  in  sugar,  pour 
out  its  tea,  leave  it  to  cool  before  drinking ;  and  all  this, 
without  any  other  instigation  than  the  signs  or  the  com- 
mand of  its  master,  and  often  of  its  own  accord."  In 
their  wild  state  they  live  in  tropical  climates,  particular- 
ly in  the  island  of  Borneo ;  they  attack  even  the  ele- 
phant, which  they  beat  with  their  clubs,  and  oblige  him 
to  leave  that  part  of  the  forest  which  they  inhabit. — 
Goldsmith. 

OWHYHEE,  the  largest  of  the  Sandwich  islands  5 
situated  in  the  Pacific  Ocean,  in  about  23  degrees  north 
latitude.  It  was  here  Captain  James  Cooke,  the  cele- 
brated circumnavigator,  fell  a  victim  to  the  sudden  fury 
of  the  natives,  February  21,  1779.  During  their  first 
visit  the  natives  used  the  English  with  remarkable  hos- 
pitality and  kindness  5  but  on  their  return,  a  short  time 
afterwards,  it  was  plainly  visible  that  the  countenances 
and  behavior  of  these  islanders  were  changed.  On  the 
fatal  day,  Captain  Cooke  went  ashore,  with  a  lieutenant 
arid  nine  marines.  An  unhappy  incident  occurring, 
that  provoked  the  Owhyheeans,  they  were  instantly  clad 
hi  iheir  war  mats,  arid  armed  with  spears  and  stones. 
They  rushed  on  with  dreadful  shouts  and  yells,  regard- 
less of  the  effect  of  the  fire-arms.  Four  of  the  ma- 
rines fell  a  sacrifice  to  their  fury  ;  and  three  others,  to- 
gether with  the  lieutenant,  Vere  dangerously  wounded* 


PAGODAS— PALLAS— PALMA  CHRISTI.        279 

The  captain  received  a  blow  on  the  back  and  fell  with 
his  face  into  the  water ;  where  he  was  surrounded  by  a 
throng  of  savages,  who  soon  despatched  him,  notwith- 
standing his  vigorous  efforts  to  defend  himself,  which 
continued  to  the  last.  A  boat  from  his  ship,  filled  with 
armed  marines,  was  within  a  few  yards  from  him, 
and  he  was  observed,  several  times,  in  his  struggles 
with  the  savages,  to  cast  a  supplicating  look  towards 
his  friends ;  but  such  was  their  consternation  that  they 
gave  him  no  manner  of  assistance. — Cookers  Voyages. 


P. 


JL  AGODAS,  idolatrous  temples  in  the  East-Indies* 
The  Pagoda  is  a  small  edifice  not  capable  of  containing 
more  than  an  hundred  persons.  The  idol  is  placed  on 
a  little  pedestal,  ornamented  with  flowers  and  exposed 
to  the  veneration  of  the  people.  They  burn  before  the 
image  of  the  idol  a  great  quantity  of  cocoa-oil  in  a 
multitude  of  small  lamps :  they  present  it  with  offer- 
ings of  fruits,  milk,  grain,  oil,  and  flowers  ;  and  at  each 
offering  a  number  of  little  bells,  fastened  to  a  machine 
of  wood,  in  the  form  of  a  triangle,  are  rung,— -Grand- 
pre. 

PALLAS,  or  Gibers,  a  primary  planet  between  Mars 
and  Jupiter,  discovered  by  Dr.  Gibers,  of  Bremen  in 
Germany,  on  the  28th  of  March,  1802.  Its  diameter, 
according  to  Dr.  Herschell,  is  only  one  hundred  and 
ten  miles;  it  appears  like  a  star  of  the  eighth  magni- 
tude. Its  medial  distance  from  the  sun  is  about  two 
hundred  and  sixty-six  million  miles;  its  periodic  revolu- 
tion is  performed  in  sixteen  hundred  and  eighty-three 
days, — Bowditch. 

PALMA  CHRISTI,  the  tree  that  produces  the  cas- 
tor oil -nut.  This  tree  is  of  a  speedy  growth ;  as  in  one 
year  it  arrives  at  its  full  height,  which  seldom  ex- 
ceeds twenty  feet.  When  the  bunches  of  the  palma 
christi  begin  to  turn  black,  they  are  gathered,  dried  in 


280  PALMIST— PALMIRA— PAN. 

the  sun,  and  the  seeds  picked  out.  They  are  afterwards 
put  up  for  use,  as  wanted,  or  for  exportation.  An  Eng- 
lish gallon  of  the  seeds  or  nuts  of  the  palma  christi  tree 
yields  about  two  pounds  of  oil,  which  is  obtained  either 
by  expression  or  decoction  :  the  first  method  is  prac- 
tised in  England,  the  latter  in  Jamaica. — American  Mu- 


seum. 


PALMIST,  a  species  of  the  palm  tree.  The  stem 
of  the  palmist  is  sometimes  above  a  hundred  feet  high, 
is  perfectly  straight,  and  bears  on  its  summit,  all  the 
foliage  which  it  has,  a  bunch  of  palms  $  from  the  midst 
of  which  issues  a  long  roll  of  plaited  leaves.  The 
trunk  of  the  palmist,  though  exceedingly  hard,  may  be 
cleft  with  the  utmost  ease  from  end  to  end,  and  is  filled, 
inwardly,  with  a  spongy  substance,  which  may  be  easi- 
ly separated.  Thus  prepared,  it  serves  to  form  for  con- 
ducting waters,  tubes  which  are  not  corruptible  by  hu- 
midity. In  certain  islands  of  the  southern  or  eastern 
ocean,  cloth,  for  wearing  apparel,  and  carpets,  are  made 
of  the  bark  of  some  kinds  ot  the  palm  tree,-— &t .  Pierre, 
Perouse, 

PALMIRA,  once  a  city  of  astonishing  opulence  and 
splendour  ;  situated  in  a  large  sandy  plain,  ninety  miles 
east  of  Damascus  :  and  thought  by  the  Asiatics  to  have 
owed  its  origin  to  king  Solomon.  Here  Zenobia,  a  wo- 
man of  a  surpassing  genius,  reigned  with  great  glory  ; 
and  Longinus,  the  famous  critic,  was  her  secretary. — 
The  Roman  tyranny  becoming  insupportable,  she  waged 
war  with  Aurelian  the  Roman  emperor,  who  took  her 
prisoner,  led  her  in  triumph  to  Rome,  and  put  Longinus 
her  secretary  to  death,  together  with  her  principal  no- 
bility ;  afterwards  destroying  her  city,  and  massacreing 
its  inhabitants.  The  stupendous  grandeur  of  Palmyra, 
or  Tadmor  in  the  Desart,  as  the  ancients  called  it,  is 
evident  from  its  ruins  which  are  still  to  be  seen,  scatter- 
ed around  for  many  miles ;  among  which  is  a  colonade 
extending  four  thousand  feet  in  length,  and  terminated 
by  a  noble  Mausoleum. 

PAN,  in  p^gan  mythology,  the  god  of  hunters,  shep- 
herds, uad  husbandmen.  He  was  painted  partly  man 


PANACEA— PANDECTS.  281 

and  partly  goat,  having  a  goat's  horns,  feet  and  tail,  and 
a  chaplet  of  pine  on  his  red  and  laughing  face,  a  motley 
skin  covering  his  body,  with  a  crooked  stick  in  one 
hand,  and  a  pipe  in  the  other.  Pan  was  said  continual- 
ly to  play  on  his  mysterious  pipe,  composed  of  seven 
unequal  reeds,  but  so  fitted  as  to  produce  together  the 
Hiost  perfect  melody,  metaphorically  called  the  music 
of  the  spheres;  which  results  from  the  sublime  and 
wonderful  order  of  the  seven  planets,  that  is,  the  six 
primary  planets  and  the  moon  ;  moving  in  orbits  of  un- 
equal dimensions,  and  performing  their  revolutions 
with  different  degrees  of  velocity,  but  all  with  unerring 
concord. — Young,  Russell. 

PANACEA,  a  universal  medicine.  The  kind  of 
nostrums  which  is  pretended  to  cure  or  prevent  diseas- 
es generally,  is  called  panacea  ;  others  which  promise 
the  certain  cure  or  prevention  of  particular  disorders, 
are  called  specifics.  It  is  affirmed  in  Dr.  Willich's 
Lectures  on  Diet  and  Regimen,  that  most  of  the  nos- 
trums advertised  aa  cough  drops,  &c.  are  preparations 
of  opium,  similar  to  the  paregoric  elixir  of  the  shops, 
but  disguised  and  rendered  more  deleterious,  by  the  ad- 
dition of  aromatic  and  heating  gums  ;  and  that  the  in- 
discriminate use  of  them  has  pernicious  effects.  In  all 
the  annals  of  human  folly,  nothing  can  exceed  the  un- 
reflecting confidence  with  which  people  swallow  the 
medicines  of  advertising  impostors.  Some  well  persons 
take  these  medicines  to  preserve  their  health,  or  to  give 
it  a  higher  tone.  An  Italian  count  did  so  ;  and  finding 
his  error  had  cost  him  his  life,  he  ordered  the  following 
inscription  to  be  placed  on  his  tomb.  "  /  was  well ;  1 
wanted  to  be  better;  1  took  medicine,  and  here  lam." 

PANDECTS,  or  Digest,  a  body  of  Roman  laws, 
drawn  up  in  the  reign  and  by  the  order  of  Justinian  the 
emperor.  The  pandects  were  designed  to  contain  all 
that  was  useful  in  the  works  of  the  ancient  lawyers, 
which  amounted  to  more  than  two  thousand  volumes; 
they  appeared  in  the  year  553;  the  compilers  having 
been  engaged  more  than  three  years  in  the  work.  In 
the  eastern, Roman  empire  this  great  body  of  laws  con- 
tinued only  till  the  ninth  century;  'when  the  emperor 
Z  2 


282        PANGOLIN— -PANTHER— -PAPER. 

BasiJius  substituted  a  code  of  laws  called  the  Basilica, 
in  its  stead.  In  the  western  empire  the  pandects  were 
first  abrogated  by  the  laws  of  the  Lombards,  and  continu- 
ed in  oblivion  till  the  twelfth  century,  when  a  copy  was 
found  at  Amalsi.  The  pandects  were  no  sooner  found 
than  they  excited  the  general  attention  of  the  lawyers 
of  Europe;  and  Justinian's  legislation  was  made  in  a 
considerable  measure  the  model  and  foundation  of  the 
laws  of  modern  nations. 

PANGOLIN,  an  animal  of  the  scaly  kind,  and  a  na- 
tive of  the  torrid  climates  of  the  eastern  continent.  The 
pangolin  is  defended  by  thick  scales,  but  has  no  teeth  : 
it  lives  on  insects,  particularly  ants.  It  has  a  very  long 
tongue,  which  is  doubled  in  its  mouth ;  this  tongue  is 
round,  red,  and  covered  with  an  unctious  and  slimy  li- 
quor which  gives  it  a  shining  hue.  When  the  pangolin* 
therefore,  approaches  an  ant-hill,  in  quest  of  the  in- 
sects on  which  it  chiefly  feeds,  it  lies  down  near  it,  con- 
cealing as  much  as  possible  the  place  of  its  retreat  5  and 
stretching  out  its  long  tongue  among  the  ants,  keeps  it 
for  some  time  quite  immovable.  These  little  animals, 
allured  by  its  appearance  and  the  unctions  substance 
with  which  it  is  surrounded,  instantly  gather  upon  it  in 

freat  numbers;  and  when  the  pangolin   perceives  he 
as  enough  of  them,  he  instantly  withdraws  his  tongue 
and  swallows  them  u^.~Goldsmith. 

PANTHER,  commonly  called  Catamount,  a  furious 
animal  of  the  American  forests.  The  American  In- 
dians lay  their  male  children  on  the  skins  of  panthers, 
on  account  of  the  communicative  principle,  which  they 
reckon  all  nature  is  possessed  of,  in  conveying  the  quali- 
ties according  to  the  regimen  followed  ;  and  as  the 
•panther  is  endued  with  IT  any  qualities  beyond  any  of  his 
feilow  animals  in  the  American  woods,  as  smelling, 
strength,  cunning,  arid  prodigious  spring,  they  reckon 
such  a  bed  to  be  the  first  rudiment  of  war.  But  their 
female  children  they  lay  on  the  skins  of  fawns,  or  buft'a- 
lo-calves,  to  render  them  shy  and  timorous. — History 
of  American  Indians.  See  CATAMOUNT. 

PAPER,  a  substance  on  which  we  write  or  print. 


PAPER  MULBERRY—  PARAGUAY.       £83 

made  of  rags  ground,  macerated  in  water,  and  formed 
into  thin  sheets  by  means  of  a  sieve.  It  took  its  name 
from  a  kind  of  reed  that  grows  on  the  banks  of  the  riv- 
er Nile,  called  Papyrus.  The  leaf  of  this  plant  was 
first  used  for  paper  :  hence  we  say  leaf  of  a  book,  as 
books  were  first  made  of  real  leaves.  Afterwards  the 
bark  of  a  species  of  mulberry  tree  was  used  for  writing  ; 
whence  the  Latin  word  liber  signifies  a  book,  and  also 
the  bark  of  a  tree  ;  and  so  the  word  library  is  derived 
from  the  aticient  practice  of  making  books  from  bark. 
Paper  made  of  cotton  rags  began  to  be  in  use,  in  the 
eleventh  century  ;  that  made  of  linen  rags  began  to  be 
used,  in  the  fifteenth  century.  The  manufacture  of  pa- 
per was  introduced  into  England,  in  the  year  1558.  It 
is  lately  made  of  other  materials  besides  rags.  In  the 
New  London  Review,  it  is  said,  "  There  is  in  posses- 
sion of  the  London  ^pciety  for  the  encouragement  of 
Arts,  Manufactures,  and  Commerce,  a  great  variety  of 
specimens  of  paper  made  from  raw  vegetables,  thistles, 
potatoe  haumLpoplar,  and  hop  bines." 

PAPER  MULBERRY,  a  plant  which  rarely  grows 
more  than  seven  feet  in  height,  and  about  the  thickness 
of  four  fingers  :  it  affords  clothing  to  a  part  of  the  hu- 
man species.  The  female  inhabitants  of  the  island  of 
Tongoiaboo,  in  the  South  Sea,  take  the  tender  stalks  of 
the  paper  mulberry,  and  strip  the  bark,  and  scrape  off 
the  exterior  rind  ;  after  which  the  bark  is  rolled  up,  and 
steeped  for  some  time  in  water  ;  it  is  then  beaten  with 
a  square  instrument  of  wood,  full  of  coarse  grooves.  — 
After  repeating  the  operation,  it  is  spread  out  to  dry  ; 
the  pieces  being  from  four  to  six  or  seven  feet  in  length, 
and  about  half  as  broad.  They  join  these  pieces  togeth- 
er with  the  glutinous  juice  of  a  berry,  and  stain  them. 
with  a  juice  extracted  from  the  bark  of  a  tree,  called 
Jcokka.  They  proceed,  joining  and  staining  by  degrees, 
till  a  piece  of  cloth,  of  the  requisite  length,  is  obtained. 
Voyages. 


PARAGUAY,  a  large  country  in  South  America  ; 
situated  between  12°  and  37°  south  latitude;  extending 
one  thousand  and  five  hundred  miles  in  length,  and  one 
thousand  miles  in  breadth  $  bounded  by  Amazonia,  by 


284  PARIS— PARROT. 

Brazil,  by  Patagonia,  and  by  Chili  and  Peru.  Buenos 
Ayres,  which  lies  on  the  river  Plata,  is  the  capital.  This 
vast  country,  of  which  the  Spaniards  have  subdued  only 
the  smaller  part,  is  extremely  fertile,  producing  cotton 
in  great  quantities :  it  has  also  prodigiously  rich  pastures, 
in  which  are  bred  such  herds  of  cattle  that  it  is  said  the 
hides  of  the  beasts  is  all  that  is  properly  bought,  the  car- 
case being  in  a  manner  given  into  the  bargain.  In  1580, 
the  Jesuits  were  admitted  into  these  fertile  regions ;  and 
in  process  of  time,  by  the  most  wonderful  address  and 
'persevering  patience,  and  without  the  least  degree  of 
force,  they  acquired  the  most  absolute  dominion,  both 
ecclesiastical  and  civil,  over  the  natives,  whom  they  even 
instructed  in  military  discipline.  In  1767,  the  Spanish 
court  expelled  the  Jesuits  from  South  America.  In  the 
arts  of  civilizing  the  American  Indians  and  conciliating 
their  affections,  they  far  surpassed  any  other  missiona- 
ries, who  have  hitherto  attempted  this  difficult  work. — 
Walker. 

PARIS,  the  capital  of  France,  and  one  of  the  largest, 
finest  and  most  populous  cities  of  Europe  :  the  river 
.Seine  runs  through  it.  It  is  six  miles  in  diameter,  and 
eighteen  in  circumference,  including  the  suburbs  5  and 
is  computed  to  contain  eight  hundred  thousand  inhabit- 
ants, eight  hundred  and  seventy -five  streets,  and  twen- 
ty-four thousand  houses,  among  which  are  many  of  five, 
six,  or  even  seven  stories.  One  of  the  squares  of  this 
city ,  formerly  called  Place-de-Louis,  XV.  but  now  called 
flace-de-la-Revolution^  was  the  place  of  the  execution 
of  the  unfortunate  Louis  XVI.  and  afterwards  of  his  un- 
happy consort,  Marie  Antoinette  ;  the  former  on  the 
21st  ot  January,  and  the  latter  on  the  16th  of  October, 
1793. — Walker. 

PARROT,  a  beautiful  and  docile  bird  of  the  tropical 
climates,  that  learns  to  speak  with  ease,  and  is  some- 
times taught  to  repeat  a  sonnet  or  c';r*y  of  verses  with 
great  propriety.  The  parrots  of  Era//: I,  in  South  Amer- 
ica, are  much  more  docile  and  more  beautiful  than  those 
ot  any  other  country.  A  Brazilian  ;voman  ic  reputed* 
on  credible  authority,  to  have  hau  a  parrot  that  seemed 
to  understand  whatever  was  said  to  it.  It  could  talk, 


PASCATAQU  A—PATAGONIA.  285 

and  whistle,  and  sing,  and  dance,  and  imitate  the  shout- 
ings of  the  Brazilians  when  they  prepared  for  battle. 
If,  however,  the  spectators  refused  to  make  presents  to 
the  parrot's  mistress,  he  seemed  to  resent  tneir  stingi- 
ness, and  remained  silent  and  sullen. — Goldsmith. 

PASCATAQUA,  or  jtiscataqua,  a  large  river,  and 
the  only  large  river,  whose  whole  course  is  in  New- 
Hampshire.  On  the  south  side  of  this  river,  about  two 
miles  from  the  sea.  is  Portsmouth,  the  largest  town  in 
the  state.  Its  harbor  is  one  of  the  finest  on  the  continent, 
having  a  sufficient  depth  of  water  for  vessels  of  any  bur- 
den. It  is  defended  against  storms  by  the  adjacent 
land,  in  such  a  manner,  as  that  ships  may  securely  ride 
there  in  any  season  of  the  year.  Besides,  the  harbor  is 
so  well  fortified  by  nature,  that  very  little  art  will  be 
necessary  to  render  it  impregnable.  Its  vicinity  to  the 
sea  renders  it  very  convenient  for  naval  trade. — Morse, 
Winierbotham. 

PATAGONIA,  the  most  southern  part  of  South 
America,  where  a  race  of  people  have  been  discovered, 
who  leading  an  unrestrained  and  savage  life,  are  report- 
ed to  be  of  a  gigantic  stature.  The  companions  of  Ma- 
gellan, wintering  in  St.  Julian's  Bay,  had  remained  some 
months  without  seeing  any  human  creature  ;  when  one 
day  (according  to  their  report)  they  saw  approaching, 
as  if  he  were  dropt  from  the  clouds,  a  man  of  enormous 
stature,  dancing,  and  singing,  and  putting  dust  upon 
his  head.  His  tace  was  broad,  his  colour  brown,  and 
painted  over  with  a  variety  of  tints  :  each  cheek  had 
the  resemblance  of  an  heart  drawn  upon  it  :  he  was 
clothed  in  skins,  and  armed  with  a  bow.  Several  others 
of  the  same  stature  quickly  afterwards  appeared  ;  two 
of  whom  the  mariners  decoyed  on  ship-board.  Nothing 
could  be  more  gentle  than  they  were  in  the  beginning ; 
they  considered  the  fetters  that  were  preparing  for  them 
as  ornaments,  and  played  with  them,  like  children  wita 
their  toys  ;  but  when  they  found  for  what  purpose  they 
were  intended,  they  instantly  exerted  their  amazing 
strength,  and  broke  them  to  pieces.  Some  of  the  in- 
habitants seen  by  Captain  Biron,  in  1764,  were  about 
seven  feet  in  height.  They  are  supposed  to  be  one  of 


286  PATOWMAC— PEACOCK. 

file  wandering  tribes,  which  occupy  that  vast,  but  least 
known  region  of  America,  which  extends  from  the  river 
La  Plata  to  the  straits  of  Magellan. 

PATOWMAC,  a  large  river,  which  originating  in 
the  Allegany  mountains,  and  forming,  through  its  whole 
course,  a  boundary  between  the  states  of  Virginia  and 
Maryland,  falls  into  Chesapeak  Bay  :  being  navigable 
for  large  ships  about  three  hundred  miles,  and  seven 
miles  and  an  half  wide  at  its  mouth.  This  river  pene- 
trates through  all  the  ridges  of  mountains  eastward  of 
the  Allegany  ;  its  passage  through  the  Blue  Ridge, 
which  is  higher  even  than  the  Allegany,  is  perhaps  one 
of  the  most  stupendous  scenes  in  nature.  The  piles  of 
rocks  on  each  hand,  and  the  evident  marks  of  their  dis- 
rupture  and  avulsion  from  their  beds,  induce  a  belief 
that  the  river  having  been  dammed  up  by  this  ridge  of 
mountains,  formed  an  ocean  which  filled  the  whole  val- 
ley ;  and,  continuing  to  rise,  at  length  broke  over  at  this 
spot,  and  tore  the  mountain  down  from  the  summit  to 
its  base.  Mount  Vernon,  venerated  as  the  seat  of  the 
illustrious  Washington,  is  situated  on  the  Virginia  bank 
of  this  river,  where  it  is  nearly  two  miles  wide,  and 
about  two  hundred  and  eighty  miles  from  the  sea. 

PEACOCK,  a  beautiful  bird,  but  of  a  horrid  voice, 
and  mischievous  nature.  They  are  natives  of  the  East- 
Indies,  and  are  still  found  in  vast  flocks,  in  a  wild  state, 
in  the  islands  of  Java  and  Ceylon.  So  early  as  the  days 
of  Solomon,  we  find  in  his  navies,  among  the  articles 
imported  from  the  East,  apes,  and  peacocks.  When 
this  bird  was  first  brought  into  Greece,  the  Grecians 
went  a  great  distance  to  see  it,  and  paid  for  the  sight. 
Ti:e  Romans  used  it  as  the  greatest  of  luxuries.,  at  their 
tables,  allured  more  by  its  costliness  and  beautiful  plu- 
mage, than  by  the  flavor  of  the  meat,  which  is  now  reck- 
oned to  be  very  indifferent.  That  which  is  called  the 
peacock  of  Thibet,  is  the  most  beautiful  of  the  feather- 
ed creation,  containing  in  its  plumage  all  the  most  vivid 
colours,  red,  blue,  yellow,  and  green,  disposed  in  almost 
an  artificial  order,  as  if  merely  to  please  the  eye  of  the 
beholder. — Goldsmith. 


PEARL  FISHERY— PEARL  OYSTER— PEKIX.    287 

PEARL  FISHERY,  the  fishing  up  of  pearl  oysters, 
by  divers  employed  for  the  purpose.  The  greatest  pearl 
fishery  is  in  the  Persian  Gulf.  The  wretched  people 
who  are  employed  in  this  service,  dive  to  the  depth  of 
fifteen  fathom,  or  ninety  feet,  drawing  in  their  breath  as 
they  go  down  :  when  arrived  at  the  bottom,  they  fill 
their  nets  with  oysters,  and  making  a  signal,  are  drawn 
up  with  a  rope.  The  oysters  are  brought  to  shore,  and 
every  one  of  them  examined  ;  a  few  only  containing 
pearls.  Thus  a  number  of  human  creatures  are  chain- 
ed to  the  bottom  of  the  ocean,  to  pluck  a  glittering 
pebble  that  may  adorn  the  bodies  of  the  rich.  These 
wretched  divers  seldom  live  more  than  five  or  six  years, 
after  they  begin  their  business. — Goldsmith. 

PEARL  OYSTER,  a  species  of  oyster  that  contains 
pearls.  They  are  found  in  the,  greatest  abundance,  and 
of  the  best  kind  in  the  Persian  Gulf.  That  which 
particularly  obtains  the  name  of  the  pearl  oyster,  has  a 
large,  strong,  whitish  shell,  wrinkled  and  rough  with- 
out, and  within  smooth  and  of  a  silver  colour.  The 
pearl  is  found,  sometimes  adhering  to  the  shell,  and 
sometimes  within  the  body  of  the  oyster.  The  value  of 
this  jewel  is  according  to  the  size  and  colour :  the  whit- 
est and  the  roundest  is  the  best.  What  is  called  Moth- 
er of  Pearl,  is  the  external  coat  of  the  shell  of  the  pearl 
oyster,  resembling  the  real  pearl  in  colour  and  consist- 
ence. This  substance  is  separated  from  the  oyster- 
shell,  and  shaped  into  a  variety  of  beautiful  utensils. — • 
Goldsmith. 

PEKIN,  the  capital  of  the  empire  of  China  ;  situat- 
ed in  a  fertile  plain  in  latitude  39°  54' ;  with  streets  as 
straight  as  a  line,  most  of  them  three  miles  in  length, 
and  about  a  hundred  and  twenty  feet  wide,  containing 
about  two  million  inhabitants.  The  walls  of  the  im- 
mense palace  of  the  emperor,  including  that  and  the 
gardens,  are  upwards  of  four  miles  in  circumference  ; 
and  are  covered  with  tiles  of  a  shining  beautiful  yellow. 
All  the  riches  and  merchandise  of  the  empire  are  con- 
tinually pouring  into  this  city  ;  and  the  concourse  of 
people  in  the  streets  is  prodigious.  People  of  distinc- 
tion oblige  all  their  dependants  to  follow  them.  A 


288  PELEW  ISLANDS. 

Mandarin  of  the  first  rank  is  always  accompanied  by 
his  whole  tribunal.  The  nobility  of  the  court,  anil 
princes  of  the  blood,  never  appear  in  public  without  be- 
ing surrounded  by  a  body  of  cavalry  ;  and  as  their  pre- 
sence is  required  at  the  palace  every  day,  their  train 
alone  is  sufficient  to  crowd  the  streets ;  it  is,  besides, 
the  resort  of  a  vast  number  of  strangers,  who  are  car- 
ried about  in  chairs  or  ride  on  horseback,  each  one 
having  a  guide.  Crowds  of  fortune-tellers,  jugglers, 
ballad-singers,  and  mountebanks,  are  seen  on  every 
side ;  horses,  camels,  mules,  and  carriages,  are  con- 
stantly crossing  one  another  in  every  direction.  In  all 
this  immense  concourse  no  women  are  ever  seen.  So 
strict  and  active  is  the  police  of  this  city,  that  it  is  rare 
to  hear  of  houses  being  robbed,  or  people  assassinated. 
An  earthquake  which  happened  here  in  1731,  buried 
above  a  hundred  thousand  people  in  the  ruins  of  the 
houses.  The  Russians  have  a  seminary  at  Fekin,  for 
the  purpose  of  learning  the  Chinese  language;  since 
which  establishment  many  interesting  publications  have 
made  their  appearance  at  Petersburg!!,  relative  to  the 
laws,  history,  and  geography  of  China,  translated  from 
the  originals  published  at  Pekin.— Walker,  ffinterbot- 
ham. 

PSLEW  ISLANDS,  a  cluster  of  small  islands  iu 
the  north  Pacific  Ocean,  situated  between  the  5th  and 
9th  degree  of  north  latitude.  In  the  year  1783,  the 
English  ship  Antelope,  Henry  Wilson  master,  (the 
whole  crew  being  thirty-four  persons)  was  wrecked  on 
the  coral  rocks  near  one  of  these  islands ;  to  which 
with  great  difficulty  they  all  escaped.  According  to 
Captain  Wilson's  journal,  Abbe  Thulle,  the  king,  as 
well  as  all  his  men,  were  quite  naked ;  the  sovereign 
and  the  nobility  being  distinguished  by  no  other  mark 
than  that  of  a  bone  drawn  round  their  wrists.  They 
had  never  seen  a  white  man  ;  and  seemed  to  think  that 
the  whole  globe  was  bounded  by  their  own  horizon.— 
They  received  and  entertained  the  distressed  English- 
men with  the  utmost  hospitality  and  kindness.  Their 
unsuspecting  confidence,  their  simple  honesty,  and  their 
hospitable  disposition,  formed  a  striking  contrast  to  the 
spirit  of  selfishness,  deceit  and  intrigue,  with  which  a 


PELICAN— PELUS I UM.  289 

knowledge  of  the  world  too  often  inspires  the  human 
breast.  Captain  Wilson,  whilst  at  Pelew,  was,  in  a  very 
solemn  manner,  created  Knight  of  the  Bone.  His  hand 
having  been  lubricated  with  oil,  a  circular  bone  was 
drawn  over  it  so  as  to  sit  snug  to  his  wrist.  Abbe 
Thulle,  the  king,  then  seriously  addressing  him,  told 
him  that  "  the  bone  should  be  rubbed  bright  every  day, 
and  preserved  as  a  testimony  of  the  rank  he  held 
amongst  them  ;  that  this  mark  of  dignity  must,  on  eve- 
ry occasion  be  defended  valiantly,  nor  suffered  to  be 
torn  from  his  arm  but  with  the  loss  of  his  life."  When 
Captain  Wilson  left  Pelew,  the  king  committed  to  his 
care  LeBoo,  his  second  son,  a  youth  of  nineteen,  great- 
ly distinguished  for  native  intelligence  and  amiable 
manners ;  who  died  in  England,  six  months  after  hi$ 
arrival.  A  Chinese,  one  of  Wilson's  crew,  described 
the  poverty  of  Pelew,  thus,  in  broken  English.  "  This 
have  very  poor  place,  and  very  poor  people ;  no  got 
clothes,  no  got  rice,  no  got  hog,  no  got  nothing,  only 
yam,  little  fish,  and  cocoa  nut ;  no  got  nothing  make 
trade,  very  little  make  eat/5  Happy  poverty,  that  will 
for  ever  secure  the  harmless  Pelewans  from  the  effects 
of  European  avarice ;  a  pest,  which  depopulated  His- 
paniola  and  Cuba,  and  destroyed  millions  in  Mexico, 
Peru  and  Hindostan  ! 

PELICAN,  a  remarkable  fowl  that  lives  on  fish,  and 
is  common  about  some  of  the  rivers  of  Georgia  and  the 
Floridas.  The  body  is  larger  than  that  of  a  tame  goose, 
the  legs  extremely  short,  the  feet  webbed,  the  bill  of  a 
great  length,  bent  inwards  like  a  scythe,  the  wings  ex- 
tend near  seven  feet  from  tip  to  tip,  the  tail  is  very  short, 
the  head,  neck,  and  breast,  nearly  white,  the  body  of  a 
light  bluish  grey,  except  the  quill -feathers  of  the  wings, 
which  are  black.  Under  the  bill  hangs  a  sack,  which 
is  capable  of  being  expanded  to  a  prodigious  size  :  it 
is  said  that  more  than  half  a  bushel  of  bran  may  be 
crammed  into  it. — Bartram. 

PELUSIUM,  a  city  of  the  ancient  Egyptian s>  and  so 

situated  as  to  have  been  the  key  of  Egypt.     It  is  said, 

that,  about  five  hundred  years  before  the  Christian  era, 

Cambysesj  king  of  Persia,  invading  Egypt  and  being 

A  a 


£90  PENANCE— PENGUIN— PENNSYLVANIA. 

desirous  to  take  the  city  of  Pelusium  by  assault,  he 
placed  a  multitude  of  cats,  dogs,  and  other  animals  that 
were  deemed  sacred  in  Egypt,  in  the  first  rank  of  his 
army,  so  that  the  Egyptians,  from  a  fear  of  wounding 
their  god-8)  did  not  attempt  to  discharge  their  weapons 
against  the  enemy ;  and  by  this  means  the  place  was 
taken  without  opposition.  All  Egypt  was  quickly  con- 
quered by  the  Persians ;  and  was  ever  thereafter  en- 
slaved by  some  foreign  nation. — Millot. 

PENANCE,  mortification  suffered  in  the  dark  ages 
of  popery,  as  an  atonement  for  sins.  The  popish  cler- 
gy, in  the  twelfth  century,  among  other  inventions  to 
obtain  money,  had  inculcated  the  necessity  of  penance, 
as  an  expiation  of  crimes.  They  had  also  introduced 
the  practice  of  paying  large  sums  of  money,  as  a  sub- 
stitute for  such  penances.  By  these  means  the  sins  of 
the  people  were  become  a  revenue  to  the  priests  ;  and 
the  king,  Henry  II.  of  England,  computed,  that,  by  this 
invention  alone,  they  levied  more  money  from  his  sub- 
jects than  flowed  into  the  royal  treasury  by  all  the 
methods  of  public  supply. — Russell. 

PENGUIN,  a  sea- fowl,  which,  though  no  taller  than 
a  goose,  often  weighs  sixteen  pounds.  They  live  on 
fish,  and  swarm  over  the  banks  of  Newfoundland  ;  in- 
somuch that  fishermen,  when  they  see  these  birds 
hovering  over  the  water,  consider  it  as  a  sure  evidence 
that  they  have  arrived  at  their  fishing  ground. 

PENNSYLVANIA,  one  of  the  United  States  of 
America  5  lying  between  39°  43'  25"  and  42°  north 
latitude ;  including,  of  course,  £°  16'  35"  equal  to  one 
hundred  and  thirty-seven  miles  from  its  southern  to  its 
northern  boundary,  and  comprehending,  in  a  due  west 
course,  three  hundred  and  eleven  miles,  exclusive  of 
the  territory  purchased  by  Pennsylvania  from  the  United 
States.  It  is  bounded  by  Delaware  river,  which  sepa- 
rates it  from  New-Jersey ;  by  New-York  and  lake 
Erie,  and  by  a  part  of  Virginia,  Maryland,  and  Dela- 
ware The  settlement  of  this  state  was  begun  in  168% 
by  the  celebrated  William  Perm,  who  offered  to  tin 
tiers  an  unlimited  toleration  of  all  religious  denornina- 


PEQUOTS— • PERSEPOLIS.  £01 

fions  5  than  which  no  circumstance,  especially  at  that 
lime  of  general  intolerance,  could  more  powerfully  ef- 
iect  a  rapid  increase  of  population.  The  state  of  Penn- 
sylvania is  intersected  with  numerous  rivers  and  moun- 
tains ;  and  the  soil  is  diversified  by  its  vicinity  to  moun- 
tains and  rivers.  The  vallies  and  bottoms  consist  of  a 
black  mould,  which  extends  from  a  foot  to  four  feet  in 
depth:  but  in  general,  a  deep  clay  forms  the  surface  of 
the  earth.  The  climate  of  Pennsylvania  has  undergone 
a  very  material  change.  Thunder  and  lightning  are 
less  frequent ;  the  cold  of  the  winters  and  the  heat  of 
the  summers  are  less  uniform  ;  the  springs  are  much 
colder,  and  the  autumn  more  temperate,  than  formerly. 
~  Rush. 

PEQUOTS,  a  numerous  and  warlike  nation  of  In- 
dians, who  possessed  a  large  part  of  the  present  terri- 
tory of  Connecticut,  at  the  time  of  the  first  arrival  of 
the"  English  ;  and  about  the  year  1630,  had  extended 
their  conquests  over  all  Long-Island,  and  a  considera- 
ble part  of  Narraganset.  Their  head  quarters  was  at 
New-London,  the  ancient  Indian  name  of  which  was 
Pequot.  Shortly  afterwards,  however,  the  Narraganset 
Indians  so  prevailed  against  the  Pequots  as  to  threaten 
their  destruction.  The  Pequots  perceiving  their  dan- 
ger, and  wishing  to  be  at  peace,  with  an  enemy  too  pow- 
erful for  them,  requested  the  English  at  Hartford  to  be 
their  mediators,  and  gave  them  some  wampum  to  pre- 
sent to  the  Narragansets ;  standing  so  much  on  a  point 
of  honor,  that  they  would  not  offer  their  enemy  any 
thing  directly,  how  much  soever  they  feared  him. — 
Trumbull. 

PERSEPOLIS,  the  ancient  capital  of  Persia.  When 
Alexander  the  Great  seized  possession  of  this  city,  it 
was  the  store-house  for  the  Persian  wealth.  Gold  and 
silver  were  never  seen  here  but  in  heaps  ;  not  to  men- 
tion the  clothes  and  furniture  of  inestimable  value  in 
this  seat  of  luxury.  There  was  found  in  the  treasury 
one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  talents,  equal  to  three 
hundred  and  sixt^wnillions  sterling ;  and  twenty  thou- 
sand talents,  equal  to  sixty  millions,  which  were  de- 
signed to  defray  the  expense  of  the  war.  To  this  pro- 


PERSIA— PERSIMON  TREE. 

digious  sum  there  was  added  that  of  six  thousand  tal- 
ents taken  from  Pasagarda.  This  was  a  city  which 
Cyrus  had  built,  and  was  the  place  of  coronation  for  the 
kings  of  Persia.  Alexander,  in  a  drunken  frolic,  and  at 
the  instigation  of  Thais,  a  noted  prostitute,  set  fire  to 
this  famous  city;  he,  and  his  drunken  companions, 
singing  and  dancing,  while  it  was  consuming  by  the 
flames.— >llollin. 

PERSIA,  a  large  kingdom  of  Asia;  situated  be- 
tween 25  and  44  degrees  of  north  latitude ;  extending 
about  thirteen  hundred  miles  in  length,  and  eleven  hun- 
dred in  breadth  ;  bounded,  in  part,  by  India,  by  the  In- 
dian Ocean,  by  Arabia,  and  by  Turkey  in  Europe :  Is- 
pahan is  its  capital.  The  middle  and  southern  parts 
uf  this  country  abound  with  silks,  and  rich  stuffs,  and 
with  the  finest  fruits.  The  Persian  empire  was  founded 
by  Cyrus,  five  hundred  and  thirty-six  years  before  the 
Christian  era.  It  rose  to  prodigious  power,  wealth,  and 
splendor,  a.nd  continued  to  be  the  proud  oppressor  of 
the  East,  for  about  two  centuries ;  when  it  was  con- 
quered by  Alexander.  A  new  empire,  called  the  Par- 
thian, was,  however,  founded  on  its  ruins  by  the  Per- 
sians, under  Abaces,  about  eighty  years  after  Alexan- 
der's conquest.  In  the  year  ot  the  Christian  era  651, 
the  Saracens,  or  Arabs,  put  an  end  to  that  empire  ;  and 
Persia  afterwards  became  a  pre}-  to  the  Tartars,  till 
Nadir  Sha,  who  assumed  the  name  of  Kouli  Khan,  usurp- 
ed the  government,  and  once  more  raised  Persia  to 
a  powerful  kingdom.  In  1747,  he  was  assassinated  by 
his  own  relations ;  his  horrible  cruelties  being  intolera- 
ble even  to  them.  Since  the  death  of  Kouli  Khan,  the 
whole  kingdom  has  been  constantly  rent  with  civil  com- 
motions ;  and  in  prosecuting  the  claims  of  ambitious 
rivals,  torrents  of  blood  have  been  shed,  and  the  most 
shocking  cruelties  perpetrated,  Rollin  tells  us,  that  so, 
profound  was  the  respect  of  children  toward  their  pa- 
rents, among  the  ancient  Persians,  that  a  son  never 
clarr-d  to  seat  himself  in  the  presence  of  his  mother,  till 
he  had  first  obtained  her  leave. 

PERSIMGN  TREE,  a  valuable"  tree  that  grows 
spontaneously  in  some  parts  of  the  United  States,  near 


PERU.  £93 

the  tide  waters,  and  succeeds  in  almost  any  kind  of  soil. 
It  is  of  a  quick  growth,  and  yields  great  quantities  of 
fruit  in  a  few  years  after  it  is  planted.  The  wood  is 
hard,  has  a  fme^close  grain,  and  may  be  applied  to  many 
mechanical  purposes  ;  and  also  burns  well.  A  buskel 
of  the  fruit  of  the  persimon  tree  will  yield  a  gallon  of 
wholesome  and  very  agreeable  spirit  as  good  as  rum. 
A  valuable  gum  exudes  from  this  tree,  and  an  excellent 
beer  is  made  from  its  fruit. — Bart-ram* 

PERU,  a  district  of  South  America,  about  eighteen 
hundred  miles  in  length,  and  about  five  hundred  in 
breadth :  its  western  borders  are  on  the  south  Pacific 
Ocean.  In  this  district  is  that  immense  chain  of  moun- 
tains, the  Andes,  which  separate  it  from  Amazonia  and 
Paraguay.  Gold,  and  especially  silver,  are  produced  in 
great  abundance;  and  Peru  is  almost  the  only  place 
that  produces  quicksilver,  or  mercury,  an  article  of  im- 
mense value,  which  was  first  discovered  there  in  1507. 
It  is  a  singular  fact,  that  it  scarce  ever  rains  in  Peru  •' 
but  this  want  is  amply  compensated  bv  a  soft  refresh- 
ing dew,  which  generally  falls  every  night.  The  Peru- 
vians were  the  most  civilized  of  any  of  the  American 
Indians  :  they  were  richly  dressed,  and  their  arms  glit- 
tered with  gold  and  precious  stones.  Pizarro,  a  Spaniard, 
invaded  and  conquered  them  in  the  year  1532.  Atalm- 
alpa,  the  inca  or  sovereign  of  Peru,  alarmed  at  the  rava- 
ges of  the  Spaniards,  agreed  to  an  interview  with  the 
Spanish  general,  in  order  to  settle  the  conditions  of 
peace.  He  came  to  the  place  of  meeting,  carried  upon 
a  throne  of  gold,  and  attended  by  upwards  often  thou- 
sand men.  While  the  negociation  was  pending,  the 
word  of  command  was  given  by  Pizarro  ;  the  artillery 
played;  the  musquetry  fired;  the  cavalry  spread  con- 
fusion and  terror  :  in  the  mean  time  Pizarro  advanced, 
at  the  head  of  a  chosen  band,  and  seized  the  person  of 
Atahualpa  the  inca.  The  slaughter  was  dreadful,  and 
the  pillage  immense ;  the  blow  was  final,  and  Peru 
ceased  to  be  an  empire.  After  draining  Atahualpa  of 
his  treasures,  under  pretence  of  a  ransom  for  his  liber- 
ty, Pizarro  condemned  him  to  be  burnt  alive ;  but  af- 
terwards changed  the  inca's  sentence  to  strangling,  on 
condition  that  he  should  die  in  the  Christian  faith  ! 
A  a  2 


294    PHENICIANS-PHlLADELPHIA-PlCttlNCA, 

PHENICIANS,  an  ancient  people  of  Asia,  who  in- 
habited the  sea-coasts,  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Is- 
raelites, and  particularly  Tyre  and  Sidon.  The  first 
navigators  of  whom  we  have  any  account,  were  the  Phe- 
nicians,  who  were  scattered  along  the  coasts  of  the 
Mediterranean  and  of  the  Red  Sea.  As  early  as  the 
days  of  Moses,  they  had  extended  their  navigation  be- 
yond the  Pillars  of  Hercules,  on  the  western  coasts  of 
Africa,  toward  the  south  ;  and  as  far  northward  as  the 
island  of  Britain,  whence  they  imported  tin  and  lead, 
which,  according  to  the  universal  testimony  of  the  an- 
cients, were  not  then  found  in  any  other  country. — 
Selknap.  The  Phenicians  are  said  to  have  been  the 
first  who  applied  astronomy  to  navigation. 

PHILADELPHIA,  the  metropolis  of  Pennsylvania. 
It  was  laid  out  by  William  Penn,  in  the  year  1683  5  and 
is  intersected  by  a  great  number  of  streets  crossing 
each  other  at  right  angles,  the  buildings  being  large, 
and  mostly  of  brick.  This  city  lies  in  latitude  39°  57', 
iifty  miles  west  from  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  It  is  situated 
about  four  miles  due  north  from  the  confluence  of  the 
rivers  Delaware  and  Schuylkill.  The  land  near  the 
rivers,  between  the  city  and  the  conflux  of  the  rivers, 
is,  in  general,  low,  moist  and  subject  to  be  overflowed. 
The  land  to  the  northward  and  westward,  in  the  vicini- 
ty of  the  city,  is  high,  and,  in  general,  well  cultivated. 
The  air  is  much  purer  to  the  north,  than  at  the  south 
end  of  the  city  :  hence  the  lamps  exhibit  a  fainter  flame 
in  its  southern  than  in  its  northern  parts.  The  spot  on 
which  Philadelphia  stands  evidently  appears  to  be  made 
ground.  The  different  strata  through  which  they  pass 
in  digging  to  water,  the  acorns,  leaves,  and  sometimes 
branches,  which  are  found  above  twenty  feet  below  the 
surface,  all  seem  to  demonstrate  this.-— Dr.  Hush,  Ch. 
Thompson. 

PICHINCA,  a  volcanic  mountain,  almost  three  miles 
perpendicular  height  above  the  surface  of  the  sea.  It 
is  one  of  the  highest  peaks  of  the  Andes,  and  is  situa- 
ted in  Quito1,  a  province  of  Peru.  "  On  the  top  of  this 
mountain,  (says  Ulloa)  was  my  station  for  measuring  a 
degree  of  the  meridian  5  where  I  suffered  particular 


PIGEON—PIMENTO  TREE.  295 

hardships  from  the  intenseness  of  the  cold,  and  the  vio- 
lence of  the  storms.  The  sky  around  was,  in  general, 
involved  in  thick  fogs,  which  when  they  cleared  away, 
and  the  clouds  by  their  gravity  moved  nearer  to  the  face 
of  the  earth,  appeared  surrounding  the  foe t  of  the  moun- 
tain, at  a  vast  distance  below,  like  a  sea  encompassing 
an  island  in  the  midst  of  it.  When  thig  happened,  the 
horrid  noises  of  tempests  were  heard  from  beneath,  dis- 
charging themselves  on  Quito  and  the  neighboring 
country.  I  saw  (continues  he)  the  lightnings  issue  from 
the  clouds,  and  heard  the  thunders  roll  far  beneath  mee 
All  this  time,  while  the  tempest  was  raging  below,  the 
mountain  top  where  I  was  placed,  enjoyed  a  delightful 
serenity,  and  a  clear  sky." 

PIGEON,  a  bird  bred  tame  in  cotes  or  houses :  of 
these  birds  there  is  a  variety  of  species.  Tame  pigeons, 
in  Europe,  have  been  used  to  carry  letters.  They  are 
first  brought  from  the  place  where  they  are  bred,  and 
whither  it  is  intended  to  send  them  back  with  informa- 
tion. The  letter  is  laid  under  the  bird's  wing,  and  it  is 
then  let  loose  to  return.  When  it  finds  itself  at  liberty, 
it  soars  up  into  the  clouds  to  an  amazing  height,  and 
continues  flying  aloft  till  it  gets  home,  and  then  darts 
down  with  the  utmost  exactness,  and  brings  the  letter  to 
those  for  whom  it  was  intended.  In  an  hour  and  an  half 
they  will  perform  a  journey  of  forty  miles.  At  the  ex- 
ecution of  criminals  at  Tyburn  in  England,  when  the 
cart  began  to  be  drawn  away  from  under  the  gallows,  it 
was  a  custom  to  Jet  a  pigeon  fly  into  the  air,  to  give  no- 
tice to  people  at  some  uistance  that  the  culprits  were 
dying.— Goldsmith 

PIMENTO  TREE,  a  tree  that  bears  a  kind  of  spice, 
of  a  round  figure,  named  Jamaica  pepper,  or  alspice  : 
thev  grow  spontaneously  in  great  abundance  in  the  isl- 
and of  Jamaica.  This  tree  is  purely  a  child  of  nature, 
and  seems  to  mock  all  the  labors  of  man  in  his  endeav- 
ors to  extend  or  improve  its  growth  ;  for  where  it  is  not 
fovmd  growing  spontaneously,  it  cannot  be  propagated 
from  seeds  or  from  the  young  plants.  The  trunk,  which 
is  of  a  grey  colour,  smooth  and  strong,  rises  to  the  height 
of  fifteen  or  twenty  feet.  It  then  branches  out  on  all 


296  PIN—  PINNA. 

sides,  richly  clothed  with  leaves  of  a  deep  green,  con- 
trasted by  an  exuberance  of  white  flowers.  They  form 
the  most  delicious  groves  that  can  possibly  be  imagin- 
ed; filling  the  air  with  fragrance.  As  this  tree  which 
is  no  less  remarkable  for  fragrance  than  beauty,  suffers 
no  rival  plant  to  flourish  within  its  shade,  so  these  groves 
are  not  only  clear  of  underwood,  but  there  is  beneath  a 
close,  clean,  and  smooth  turf,  of  a  fine  bright  colour. 
Over  this  beautiful  surface  the  pimento  spreads  itself, 
here  in  extensive  groves,  there  in  groups  :  some  crown- 
ing the  hills,  and  others  scattered  down  the  declivities. 
—  Bryan  Edwards. 

PIN,  a  short  piece  of  brass  wire,  with  a  sharp  point 
and  round  head,  used  in  fastening  the  female  dress. 
Pins  were  first  brought  from  France  into  England,  in 
the  year  1543.  Previous  to  that  time  they  used  rib- 
bons, laces  and  skewers,  for  fastening  clothes.  In  man- 
ufacturing pins  in  England,  one  man  draws  out  the  wire, 
another  straights  it,  a  third  cuts  it,  a  fourth  points  it,  a 
fifth  grinds  it  at  the  top  for  receiving  the  head  :  to  make 
the  head  requires  two  or  three  distinct  operations  ;  to 
put  it  on  is  a  peculiar  business,  to  whiten  the  pins  is 
another  ;  it  is  even  a*  trade  by  itself  to  put  them  into  the 
paper  ;  and  the  important  business  of  making  a  pin,  is, 
in  this  manner,  divided  into  about  eighteen  distinct  ope- 
rations, which  in  some  manufactories,  are  all  performed 
by  distinct  hands,  though  in  others  the  same  man  will 
sometimes  perform  two  or  three  of  them.  In  conse- 
quence of  such  a  division  and  combination  of  the  differ- 
ent operations,  they  are  able  to  make  more  than  two 
hundred  fold  the  number  of  pins.,  which  they  could  make 
if  they  all  wrought  separately  and  independently.  — 
Jldam  Smith. 


PINNA,  or  faa-Wing)  a  surprising  little  animal  of 
the  deep.  The  pinna  is  contained  in  a  two-valve  shell, 
weighing  sometimes  fifteen  pounds,  and  emits  a  beard 
of  fine  long  glossy  silk-like  fibres,  by  which  it  is  sus- 
pended to  the  rocks  twenty  or  thirty  feet  deep  beneath 
the  surface  of  the  sea.  In  this  situation  it  is  so  success- 
fully attacked  by  the  eight-footed  polypus,  that  the  spe- 
cies, perhaps  could  not  exist  but  for  the  exertions  of  the 


PINNOTHERIS— PLAGUE— PLANETS.   297 

pinnotheris,  which  lives  in  the  same  shell,  as  a  guard 
and  companion.— *Darwin. 

PINNOTHERIS,  a  small  crab,  naked,  but  furnished 
with  good  eyes,  and  lives  in  the  same  shell  with  the 
pinna.  When  they  want  food  the  pinna  opens  its  shell, 
and  sends  its  faithful  ally  to  forage  ;  but  if  the  crab,  or 
pinnotheris  sees  the  polypus,  their  common  enemy,  he 
returns  suddenly  to  the  arms  of  his  blind  hostess,  who, 
by  closing  the  shell,  avoids  the  fury  of  the  enemy ;  oth- 
erwise, wnen  it  has  procured  a  booty,  it  brings  it  to  the 
opening  of  the  shell,  where  it  is  admitted,  and  they  di- 
vide the  prey.  This  was  observed  by  Hallequist,  in  hia 
voyage  to  Palestine. — Darwin. 

PLAGUE,  a  contagious  and  fatal  disorder,  that  has 
often  depopulated  extensive  regions  of  the  earth.  In 
the  year  1798,  there  was  so  terrible  a  plague  at  Rome^ 
as  to  carry  off  ten  thousand  people  in  a  day.  The 
plague  which  spread  itself  in  a  manner  over  the  whole 
world,  in  the  year  1346,  as  we  are  told  by  Mazeray,  was 
so  contagious  that  scarce  a  village,  or  even  a  house  es- 
caped being  infected  by  it.  Before  it  had  reached  Eu- 
rope, it  had  been  two  years  travelling  from  the  great 
kingdom  of  Cathay,  where  it  began  by  a  vapor  most  hor- 
ribly fcetid  :  this  broke  out  of  the  earth  like  a  subter- 
ranean fire,  and  upon  the  first  instant  of  its  eruption, 
consumed  and  desolated  above  two  hundred  leagues  of 
that  country.  In  1611,  about  two  hundred  thousand 
persons  died  of  the  plague,  in  Constantinople.  The 
great  plague,  as  it  was  emphatically  called,  at  London, 
was  brought  thither  in  some  Levant  goods,  which  came 
from  Holland  about  the  close  of  the  year  1664;  the 
deaths  there  amounted  to  between  eight  and  ten  thou- 
sand a  week.  (See  article  LONDON.)  The  great  plague 
of  Marseilles,  in  France,  was  brought  thither  from  Syria* 
in  May  1720  ;  the  deaths  were  estimated  at  between 
fifty  and  sixty  thousand.  In  1792,  the  plague  carried 
off  about  three  hundred  thousand  people  in  Egypt. — 
Goldsmith,  et  ceteri. 

PLANETS,  heavenly  bodies  which  revolve  round  the 
sun  as  the  centre  of  their  motion  ;  they  consist  of  pri- 


289  PLANT— PLANTANE. 

mary  planets,  satellites  or  moons,  and  comets.  There 
are  ten  primary  planets,  which  reckoned  in  order  from 
the  sun,  are  as  follows :  Mercury,  Venus,  the  Earth, 
Mars,  Juno,  Pallas,  Ceres,  Jupiter,  Saturn,  and  Ilers- 
chel.  The  orbits  of  Mercury  and  Venus  are  within  that 
of  the  earth ;  but  the  orbits  of  the  seven  other  planets 
include  the  earth's  orbit  within  theirs.  The  earth  has 
one  satellite  or  moon  ;  Venus  one  ;  Jupiter  four  ;  Sat- 
urn seven ;  and  Herschel  six.  Planets  receive  their 
light  from  the  sun  ;  but  each  fixed  star  is  thought  to  be 
itself  a  sun,  and  to  shine  with  its  own  light,  upon  worlds 
revolving  round  it.  The  ancients  had  knowledge  only 
of  seven  planets  including  the  moon  ;  which  they  sym- 
bolically represented  by  the  seven  strings  to  Apollo's 
lyre.  Kepler  was  the  first  who  discovered  the  great  and 
universal  law  of  the  motion  of  planets ;  namely,  that  a 
line  drawn  from  the  centre  of  the  sun  to  the  planet,  and 
revolving  with  it,  would  always  describe  equal  areas  in 
equal  times  ;  insomuch  that,  however  swiftly  a  planet 
moves  when  nearest  the  sun,  or  how  slowly  soever  when 
farthest  from  it,  the  space  contained  within  the  angle  it 
makes  with  the  sun  is  exactly  the  same  in  any  given 
time.  See  COMETS. 

PLANT,  an  organical  body,  destitute  of  sense,  pro- 
duced by  the  earth,  to  which  it  adheres  by  its  roots,  and 
receives  its  nourishment  from  it.  The  catalogue  of 
plants  enumerated  by  Linnseus,  the  great  botanist  of 
Sweden,  amounted  to  about  ten  thousand.  The  number 
since  discovered  and  added  to  the  lists  by  botanists,  cir- 
cumnavigators, and  travellers,  is  so  very  great,  that  the 
species  now  known  and  described  considerably  exceed 
twenty  thousand. — Miller. 

PLANTANE,  a  vegetable  that  grows  spontaneously 
in  all  parts  of  this  country,  and  is  an  excellent  antidote 
to  poison.  Some  years  ago  the  Assembly  of  South  Caro- 
lina purchased  the  negro  Ccesar's  freedom,  and  gave 
him  an  annuity  of  one  hundred  pounds,  for  discovering 
the  efficacy  of  plantane,  together  with  that  of  hoarhound, 
as  a 'cure  for  poison.  Though  the  plantane,  or  hoar- 
hound,  will  either  of  them  have  a  good  effect  alone, 
they  are  most  efficacious  together.  Cresar's  cure  for 


PLATA— PLATINA.  £99 

the  bite  of  a  rattlesnake  is  as  follows.  Take  of  the  roots 
of  plantane  and  noarhound  (in  summer  roots  and  branch- 
es together)  a  sufficient  quantity;  bruise  them  in  a  mor- 
tar, and  squeeze  out  the  juice,  of  which  give  as  soon  as 
possible,  one  large  spoonful,  repeating  the  dose  an  hour 
after,  unless  the  patient  is  perfectly  relieved.  It  the  roots 
are  dried  they -must  be  moistened  with  a  little  warm  wa- 
ter. This  remedy  is  said  never  to  fail.— American  Mu- 
'~seum. 

PLATA,  a  river  in  South  America,  and  one  of  the 
largest  in  the  whole  world.  Patanco,  a  Jesuit,  who  sail- 
ed up  this  river,  gives  the  following  account  of  it. — 
"  While  I  resided  in  Europe,  (says  Patanco,)  and  read 
in  books  of  history  and  geography  that  the  river  La 
Plata  was  an  hundred  and  fifty  miles  in  breadth,  I  con- 
sidered it  as  an  exaggeration,  because  in  this  hemis- 
phere, (that  is,  in  tie  eastern  continent)  we  have  no  ex- 
ample of  such  vast  rivers.  When  1  approached  its 
mouth,  I  had  the  most  vehement  desire  to  ascertain  the 
breadth  with  my  own  eyes,  and  I  have  found  the  matter 
to  be  exactly  as  was  represented.  This  I  deduce  par- 
ticularly from  one  circumstance  ;  when  we  took  our  de- 
parture from  Monte  Video,  which  is  situated  more  than 
a  hundred  miles  from  the  mouth  of  the  river,  and  where 
its  breadth  is  considerably  diminished,  we  sailed  a  com- 
plete day  before  we  discovered  the  land  on  the.  opposite 
bank  of  the  river;  and  when  we  were  in  the  middle  of 
the  channel  we  could  not  discover  land  on  either  side, 
and  saw  nothing  but  the  sky  and  water,  as  if  we  had 
been  in  some  great  ocean."  This  river  empties  ^into 
the  south  Atlantic  Ocean,  at  about  35  degrees  south  la- 
titude. 

PLATINA,  a  metal  found  in  Peru.  It  is  white,  but 
darker  and  not  so  bright  as  silver.  It  is  heavier  than 
gold,  consequently  the  heaviest  of  all  known  bodies.  Its 
hardness  is  inferior  only  to  that  of  iron  ;  and  its  tena- 
city, which  is  more  than  thirteen  times  that  of  lead,  is 
inferior  to  that  of  iron  and  copper  alone.  Exposed  to 
the  lire,  it  is  very  nearly  as  fixed  as  gold  ;  neither  wa- 
ter nor  air  occasions  any  alterations  in  it.  Platina  is  a 
metal  valuable  for  its  great  hardness,  the  high  polish  of 


300  PLEIADES—PLUMMET— POISONED  ARROWS. 

•which  it  is  susceptible,  and  its  unalterability.  It  will 
not  tarnish  in  the  air,  neither  will  it  rust.  It  can  be 
forged  and  extended  into  thin  plates ;  and  when  dissolv- 
ed in  aqua  regia^  it  may  be  made  to  assume  an  infinite 
diversity  of  colours. — Brisson. 

PLEIADES,  a  constellation  in  the  heavens,  mention- 
ed in  the  book  of  Job.  The  ancients  had  observed  seven 
stars  in  the  Pleiades.  Six  only  are  now  perceptible  ; 
the  seventh  disappeared  at  the  siege  of  Troy.  Ovid  the 
Roman  poet  says,  it  wras  so  affected  at  the  fate  of  that 
unfortunate  city,  as  from  grief,  to  cover  its  face  with  its 
hand. — St.  Pierre.  In  this  constellation  wherein  seven 
stars  formerly  appeared,  and  since  only  six,  Herschel 
has  observed  seventy  with  his  telescope. 

PLUMMET,  a  weight  of  lead  on  a  string,  by  which 
the  depths  of  the  sea  are  measured  ;  it  is  generally  made 
of  a  lump  of  lead  of  about  forty  pounds  weight,  fastened 
to  a  cord.  By  frequent  soundings  with  the  plummet  it 
has  been  found  that  the  bottom  of  the  ocean  (which  on 
an  average,  is  judged  to  be  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile 
from  the  surface  of  the  water)  is  unequal ;  consisting  of 
dales  and  hills,  deep  valleys  and  lofty  mountains,  like 
the  dry  land.  M.  Buaclie  has  actually  given  us  a  map 
of  that  part  of  its  bottom,  which  lies  between  Africa  and 
America,  taken  from  the  several  soundings  of  mariners. 
In  it  we  find  the  same  uneven  surface  that  we  do  upon 
the  land,  the  same  eminencies,  and  the  same  depres- 
sions.— Goldsmith. 

POISONED  ARROWS,  implements  of  war  which 
are  used  only  by  barbarians,  and  particularly  by  some  of 
the  tribes  of  Africa  ;  who  have  the  art  of  injecting  their 
weapons  with  such  a  deadly  poison,  that  if  they  only 
pierce  the  flesh,  death  inev  itably  ensues.  Mr.  Park  tells 
us,  that  among  the  Mandingo  negroes  the  deadly  poison 
for  their  arrows  is  prepared  from  a  shrub  called  koona, 
which  is  very  common  in  the  woods.  The  leaves  of 
this  shrub,  when  boiled  well  with  a  small  quantity  of 
water,  yield  a  thick  black  juice,  into  which  the  negroes 
clip  a  cotton  thread  ;  this  thread  they  fasten  round  the 
iron  of  the  arrow  in  such  a  manner  that  it  is  almost  im- 


POLAND.  301 

possible  to  extract  it,  when  it  has  sunk  beyond  the  barbs, 
without  leaving  the  iron  point  and  the  poisoned  thread 
in  the  wound. 

POLAND,  a  large  country  in  Europe;  extending 
(before  its  partitions)  700  miles  in  length,  and  680  in 
breadth  ;  situated  between  46°  30'  and  37°  35'  north 
latitude ;  bounded,  in  part,  by  Hungary,  Germany,  the 
Baltic,  Russia,  and  the  territories  wrested  by  that  pow- 
er from  the  Turks.  "  The  common  mode  of  salutation 
in  this  country  is  to  incline  the  head  and  strike  the  breast 
with  one  of  the  hands,  while  they  stretch  the  other  to- 
ward the  ground  ;  but  when  a  common  person  meets  a 
superior,  he  bows  his  head  almost  to  the  earth,  waving 
at  the  same  time  his  hand,  with  which  he  touches  the 
bottom  of  the  leg,  near  the  heel,  of  the  person  to  whom 
he  pays  his  obeisance."  The  government  of  the  Poles 
was  an  elective  monarchy ;  almost  the  whole  power  be- 
ing in  a  proud  and  factious  nobility,  who  held  the  peo- 
ple in  the  lowest  state  of  vassalage.  Internal  divisions 
brought  destruction  upon  Poland,  and  were  the  means 
of  subjecting  it  to  the  neighboring  powers.  The  first  par- 
tition of  this  country  was  effected,  in  1772,  by  the  king 
of  Prussia,  the  empress  of  Russia  and  the  emperor  of 
Germany.  The  second  partition  was  made  by  the  em- 
press of  Russia,  and  king  of  Prussia,  in  1795,  when  the 
Russians,  under  general  Suwarrow,  exercised  towards 
the  unfortunate  Poles,  the  most  detestable  and  shocking 
cruelties.  An  article  in  the  Polish  constitution,  called 
Liberum  Veto,  produced  infinite  distraction  among  the 
nation,  as  well  as  opened  a  wide  door  to  foreign  in- 
fluence 5  it  was  probably  borrowed  from  the  Roman  tri- 
bunate. The  Liberum  Veto  gave  each  nuncio  or  re- 
presentative at  a  Polish  diet,  a  power  not  only  of  putting 
a  negative  to  any  law,  but  even  of  dissolving  the  assem- 
bly by  his  single  vote.  This  extraordinary  power  in 
every  individual  representative,  commenced  about  the 
middle  of  the  1 7th  century,  in  the  reign  of  John  Casi- 
mer ;  and  within  the  space  of  a  hundred  and  twelve 
years  from  its  commencement,  forty-eight  diets  or  na- 
tional assemblies  were  precipitately  dissolved  by  its  ope- 
ration. This  absurd  privilege  or  power,  which  the 
representatives  who  enjoyed  it  termed  the  most  invalua- 
Bb 


302     POLAR  BEAR— POLE  STAR, 

able  palladium  of  Polish  liberty,  was  one  great  source 
of  the  anarchy  that  constantly  agitated  Poland,  and  at 
last  brought  it  to  ruin. 

POLAR  BEAR,  or  Great  White  Bear,  found  in  the 
polar  regions.  This  animal  (Winterbotliam  says)  dif- 
fers greatly  from  the  common  bear  in  the  length  of  its 
head  and  neck,  and  grows  to  above  twice  the  size.  Its 
limbs  are  huge  and  of  great  strength  ;  its  hair  long, 
harsh,  and  disagreeable  to  the  touch,  and  of  a  yellowish 
white  colour,  and  its  teeth  are  large.  It  has  been  sel- 
dom seen  farther  south  than  Newfoundland,  but  abounds 
chiefly  on  the  shores  of  Hudson's  Bay,  Greenland,  Spits- 
bergen, and  Nova  Zembla:  these  inhospitable  regions 
seem  adapted  to  its  sullen  nature.  The  greatest  admi- 
ral that  ever  commanded  a  British  fleet,  begun,  it  would 
seem,  his  career  of  heroic  adventures  by  an  encounter 
with  one  of  these  bears.  In  the  year  1773,  the  admin- 
istration of  Great  Britain  sent  two  vessels,  commanded 
by  Captains  Phipps  and  Lutwidge,  to  the  regions  of  the 
north  pole,  on  a  voyage  of  discovery  \  which  proceeded 
to  the  eighty-first  degree  of  latitude,  where  they  were 
in  the  utmost  danger  of  being  locked  in  by  the  ice. 
Horatio  Nelson  (afterwards  the  celebrated  lord  Nelson) 
belonged  to  one  of  these  ships ;  and  was  at  that  time  on- 
ly about  fifteen  years  old.  One  night  it  happened,  while 
the  vessels  were  jammed  in  by  the  ice,  that  young  Nel- 
son was  missing,  and  no  small  fears  were  entertained  for 
his  life ;  but  early  next  morning  he  was  seen,  at  a  con- 
siderable distance  from  the  ship,  pursuing  a  bear  on  the 
ice.  He  was  armed  only  with  a  musket,  which,  by  rea- 
son of  some  injury  that  had  happened  to  the  lock,  was 
rendered  of  no  farther  service  to  him  than  as  a  club  ; 
yet,  thus  poorly  equipped,  he  had  the  resolution  to  pur- 
sue the  formidable  animal  all  night,  in  hopes  of  tiring  it 
out,  and  knocking  it  down  with  the  but-end  of  his  gun. 
On  his  return  to  the  ship,  and  receiving  reproof  from 
the  captain,  who  sternly  demanded  the  reasons  for  so 
rash  an  undertaking,  the  young  hero  replied,  ;i  I  was  in 
hopes,  sir,  of  getting  a  skin  for  my  father." — Charnock* 

POLE  STAR,  a  very  bright  star  that  is  situated  ex- 
actly or  almost  exactly  at  the  north  pole.    There  are  two 


POLES.  303 

immoveable  points,  the  one  at  the  north  and  the  other  at 
the  south  ;  round  which  points  the  stars  in  their  neigh- 
borhood seem  to  turn,  and  have  the  singular  property 
of  neither  rising  in  the  east  or  setting  in  the  west.  To 
a  man  standing  at  the  equator  both  the  poles  are  in  the 
horizon.  If  he  travel  southward,  the  south  pole  rises  5 
and  the  further  he  travels,  the  greater  will  be  its  eleva- 
tion :  but  the  southern  polar  point  is  not  exactly  desig- 
nated by  any  particular  star;  nor  are  there  so  many 
stars  near  it  as  the  northern.  If  a  person  travel  north- 
ward from  the  equator,  the  northern  pole  rises,  and  the 
pole  star  is  more  and  more  elevated  the  further  he  goes 
in  that  direction.  Towards  the  north  there  is  a  constel- 
lation consisting  of  seven  stars,  called  Charles's  Wain, 
from  its  supposed  resemblance  to  the  four  wheels  of  a 
waggon  and  a  file  of  three  horses  ;  and  the  pole  star  is 
almost  in  the  range  of  the  two  stars  which  compose  the 
hinder  wheels  of  this  wain  or  waggon;  but  is  placed 
higher  up  in  the  sky.  The  pole  star  is  not  only  of  in- 
valuable use  to  mariners,  but  is  also  capable  of  direct- 
ing the  benighted  traveller.  If  a  person  be  bewildered 
in  the  night,  provided  the  sky  be  clear,  he  may  easily 
find  the  points  of  compass.  For  while  he  faces  the  pole 
star,  the  north  is  before  him,  the  east  at  his  right  hand, 
the  west  at  his  left,  arid  the  south  behind  him  :  on  the 
other  hand,  if  he  turn  his  back  to  the  pole  star,  the  north 
will  be  behind  him,  the  south  in  front,  the  west  on  his 
right  hand,  and  the  east  on  his  left. 

POLES,  in  geography,  the  extreme  points  of  an  im- 
aginary line  passing  from  north  to  south  through  the 
centre  of  the  earth  ;  which  line  is  called  the  earth's  axis. 
The  earth  is  thought  to  be  nearly  in  the  shape  of  an  or- 
ange, largest  at  the  equator,  and  flatted  at  the  poles. — 
Hence  the  poles  are  nearer  the  centre  of  this  terrestrial 
ball  than  the  equator  is  ;  hence  also  its  diurnal  motion 
round  its  axis,  as  it  respects  bodies  on  its  surface,  is 
much  slower  towards  the  poles  than  at  and  near  the 
equator.  Experiments  prove,  as  is  said,  that  a  pendu- 
lum which  vibrates  seconds  near  the  poles,  vibrates 
slower  near  the  equator ;  which  shows  that  it  is  less 
attracted  at  the  latter  than  in  the  former  latitude.  Bodies 
near  the  poles  are  heavier  than  those  towards  the  equa- 


304  POLYPUS—POPE. 

tor,  because  they  are  nearer  the  earth's  centre,  when? 
the  whole  force  of  the  earth's  attraction  is  accumulated. 
They  are  also  heavier,  because  their  centrifugal  force  is 
less,  on  account  of  their  diurnal  motion  being  slower. 
We  are  told  by  the  learned  that  if  the  world  turned 
round  its  axis  in  eighty-four  minutes  and  forty -three 
seconds,  the  centrifugal  force  would  be  equal  to  the 
power  of  gravity  at  the  equator,  and  all  bodies  there 
would  entirely  lose  their  weight ;  and  that  if  the  earth 
revolved  still  quicker,  they  w'ould  all  fly  olf  and  leave  it. 

POLYPUS,  an  extraordinary  water  animal,  shaped 
Jike  the  finger  of  a  glove,  open  at  one  end.  and  closed  at 
the  other.  This  astonishing  creature  may  be  multipli- 
ed to  any  number  of  living  poly  pusses  by  cutting  it  in 
pieces.  Though  cut  into  a  thousand  parts,  each  retains 
its  vivacious  quality,  each  shortly  becomes  a  distinct  and 
complete  polypus ;  whether  cut  lengthways,  or  cross- 
ways  it  is  all  the  same. — Goldsmith. 

POPE,  the  bishop  of  Rome.  At  an  early  period  of 
the  Christian  era,  the  bishop  of  Rome  had  claimed  pre- 
eminent rank  in  the  church,  by  reason,  as  he  pretended, 
that  he  was  the  successor  of  St.  Peter,  and  had  the  keep- 
ing of  the  keys  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  ;  and  in  pro- 
cess of  time  he  began  to  usurp  civil  as  well  as  ecclesi- 
astical power.  Pope  St.  Gregory,  who  died  in  the  year 
604,  had  negociated  with  princes  upon  several  matters 
of  state,  and  his  successors  divided  their  attention  be- 
tween ecclesiastical  and  political  objects.  The  usurpa- 
tions of  the  bishop  of  Rome,  afterwards  called  the  pope, 
continued  gradually  to  increase  till  at  length  he  estab- 
lished all  over  Christendom,  an  ecclesiastical  and  civil 
tyranny  the  most  horrible  the  world  ever  beheld.  The 
papal  power  had  risen  to  its  summit,  about  the  middle  of 
the  twelfth  century,  when  Louis  king  of  France,  and 
Henry  II.  king  of  England,  meeting  pope  Alexander 
III.  near  the  castle  of  Torci,  they  both  dismounted  to  re- 
ceive him,  and  holding  each  of  them  the  reins  of  his  bri- 
dle, walked  on  foot  by  his  side,  and  conducted  him  in 
that  submissive  manner  into  the  castle.  The  spirit  of 
this  pretended  vicar  of  the  meek  and  lowly  Saviour, 
may  be  seen  in  the  bull,  or  sentence  of  excomiuunica- 


POPLAR.  305 

lion,  which  pope  Clement  VI.  fulminated  against  Louis 
V.  emperor  of  Germany,  in  the  year  1346  :  it  was  in 
these  words.  "  May  the  wrath  of  God,  and  of  St.  Peter 
and  St.  Paul,  crush  him  in  this  world,  and  that  which  is 
to  come  !  May  the  earth  open  and  swallow  him  alive  ; 
may  his  memory  perish,  and  all  the  elements  be  his  ene- 
mies ;  and  may  his  children  fall  into  the  hands  of  his 
adversaries,  even  in  the  sight  of  their  father  I"  Even 
at  the  close  of  the  fifteenth  century,  the  kings  of  Spain 
and  Portugal  petitioned  of  the  pope  a  deed  of  the  coun- 
tries, in  America  and  Africa,  which  had  then  been  late- 
ly discovered  by  their  subjects.  Accordingly  by  a  bull 
of  pope  Alexander  VI.  signed  on  the  second  day  of 
May,  1498,  he  (Alexander)  by  an  imaginary  line  drawn 
from  pole  to  pole,  at  the  distance  of  one  hundred  leagues 
west  of  the  Azores,  divided  between  the  crowns  of  Spain 
and  Portugal,  all  the  new  countries  already  discovered 
or  to  be  discovered  ;  giving  the  western  part  to  the 
former,  and  the  eastern  to  the  latter. — Hume,  Russell) 
Belknap. 

POPLAR,  a  tree  that  grows  in  plenty  throughout  the 
United  States  of  America ;  and  is  too  well  known  to 
need  a  description.  Dr.  Young,  of  Philadelphia,  in  a 
letter  to  governor  Clayton  of  Delaware,  remarked,  that 
the  bark  of  the  poplar  possesses  the  qualities  of  a  bitter, 
and  an  astringent ;  that  the  bitter  quality  is  greater, 
the  astringent  less,  than  in  the  Peruvian  bark  ;  that 
it  likewise  possesses  an  aromatic  acrimony ;  and  hence 
he  infers  it  is  highly  antisceptic,  and  powerfully  tonic. 
The  species  called  Lombardy  Poplar,  (being  brought 
from  Lombardy,  in  Italy)  is  planted  in  the  United  States 
merely  for  ornament ;  but  in  Italy  it  is  sawed  at  mills 
whilst  green  into  boards,  from  a  quarter  and  an  half  to 
one  inch  thick,  and  into  plank  from  two  to  three  inches 
thick ;  and  is  much  used  for  making  packages  for  mer- 
chandise. The  nails  are  not  apt  to  draw  in  these  pack- 
ages: and  the  wood  being  tender  is  easily  cut  into  thin 
boards  with  handsaws.  Boxes  of  it  made  strong  for  the 
use  of  vineyards,  last  there  thirty  or  forty  years.  This 
tree  forms  excellent  masts  for  small  vessels  ;  and  it  af- 
fords a  dye  of  as  delicate  a  lustre,  and  equally  durable, 
as  the  finest  yellow  wood.  The  dry  branches  are  pre* 
B  b  2 


306  POPPY—PORCELAIN. 


$o\  those  in  a  green  state  5  nor  should  they  be 
cut  or  bruised  :  they  are  possessed  of  the  quality  of  fix- 
ing the  colours  obtained  from  Brazil  and  log  wood.  —  . 
The  Lombardy  poglar  in  Italy,  grows,  in  twenty  years, 
to  be  twro  feet  in  diameter,  and  thirty  feet  long.  —  Jlmer. 
Museum,  Bordley,  Willich. 

POPPY,  or  Papaver,  the  plant  that  produces  opium, 
It  is  cultivated  in  Persia  and  Arabia,  where  it  attains  the 
height  of  twenty  or  thirty  feet.  The  plants  of  this  class 
are  almost  all  of  them  poisonous;  the  finest  of  opium 
is  procured  by  wounding  the  heads  of  the  large  poppies 
with  a  three-edged  knife,  and  tying  muscle-shells  to 
them  to  catch  the  drops.  In  small  quantities  this  opium 
exhilirates  the  mind,  raises  the  passions,  and  invigor- 
ates the  body  :  in  large  ones  it  is  succeeded  by  intoxica- 
tion, languour,  stupor,  and  death.  It  is  customary  in  In- 
dia for  a  messenger  to  travel  above  an  hundred  miles 
without  rest  or  food,  except  an  appropriate  bit  of  opium, 
and  a  larger  one  for  his  horse  at  certain  stages.  The 
emaciated  and  decrepit  appearance,  with  the  ridiculous 
and  idiotic  gestures  of  the  opium  eaters  in  Constantino- 
ple, is  well  described  in  the  Memoirs  of  Baron  Tott.—  • 
Darwin. 

PORCELAIN,  or  China  Ware,  a  most  refined  spe- 
cies of  earthen  ware,  which  is  manufactured  not  only  in 
China,  but  likewise  in  England,  France,  Holland,  and 
Germ  any.  After  a  piece  of  porcelain  has  been  proper- 
ly fashioned  by  the  Chinese,  it  passes  into  the  hands  of 
the  painters.  This  labor  of  painting  is  divided  among 
a  great  number  of  artists.  The  business  of  one  is  en- 
tirely confined  to  tracing  out  the  first  coloured  circle, 
which  ornaments  the  brims  of  the  vessel  ;  another  de- 
signs the  flowers  ;  and  a  third  paints  them  ;  one  deline- 
ates waters  and  mountains  ;  and  another,  birds,  and 
other  animals.  The  Chinese  have  porcelain  -painted 
with  colours  of  every  kind.  The  art  of  manufacturing 
this  article  in  Europe,  was  found  out  seemingly  by  acci- 
dent. John  Frederick  Hottger,  a  German,  about  the 
year  1706,  having  been  long  engaged  in  fruitless  at- 
tempts to  transmute  various  substances  into  gold,  and, 
at  hist  imputing  his  want  of  success  to  the  crucibles  not 
being  of  a  proper  quality,  he  attempted  to  make  these 


PORCUPINE— PORTUGAL.  S07 

crucibles  himself,  of  a  hard  and  durable  kind  ;  and  in 
this  attempt  he  accidentally  produced  porcelain  ;  which 
has  since  been  commonly  manufactured  in  several  king- 
doms of  Europe,  but  in  the  greatest  quantity,  and  of  the 
best  quality,  in  France.  In  the  year  1 800,  Guirhard  and 
Dell,  of  France,  completed  a  human  figure  in  porcelain, 
of  four  feet  high.  The  advantages  to  be  derived  from 
adopting  this  kind  of  statuary,  are  durability,  cheapness, 
and  expedition  and  ease  of  production.  These  figures 
may  be  prepared  in  a  mould,  by  which  means  the  statues 
of  great  men  may  be  multiplied  with  little  labor  and  at 
small  expense. — Winterbotham^  Miller. 

PORCUPINE,  commonly  called  Hedge-Hog,  a  little 
animal  of  a  grey  colour,  and  of  extremely  slow  motion. 
What  is  singular  and  most  distinguishing  in  this  ani- 
mal, is  the  quills  with  which  it  is  armed.  These  quills 
are  about  four  inches  in  length,  and  of  the  size  of  the 
quills  of  a  pigeon.  When  the  porcupine  is  attacked  by 
an  enemy,  he  places  his  head  between  his  fore  feet, 
and  erects  these  quills  all  around,  in  the  form  of  a  hem- 
isphere. He  has  no  power  to  eject  them  from  his  body, 
or  to  dart  them  against  his  enemy,  as  has  been  fre- 
quently said.  But  they  are  so  loosely  inserted  in  his 
flesh,  and  of  such  a  particular  construction,  that  they 
are  easily  extracted,  and  like  a  barbed  dart  stick  fast, 
and  work  themselves  into  the  flesh  of  any  animal  that 
touches  their  extremities  5  nor  can  they  be  easily  drawn 
\vithout  tearing  the  flesh,  but  by  incision. — I Williams. 

PORTUGAL,  the  most  western  country  of  Europe  5 
extending  about  four  hundred  miles  in  length,  and  one 
hundred  and  thirty  in  its  mean  breadth  :  bounded  by 
the  Atlantic  Ocean,  and  by  Spain.  It  abounds  with  ex- 
cellent wines,  with  which  it  supplies  England  5  and  as 
it  receives  annually  from  the  Brazils  a  greater  quantity 
of  gold  than  can  be  employed  in  its  domestic  commerce, 
a' large  share  of  it  goes  annually  to  England,  in  return 
either  for  English  goods,  or  for  those  of  other  Europe- 
an nations  that  receive  their  returns  through  England. 
The  Poi^fguese,  who  are  now  so  small  in  the  scale  of 
nations,  Kave  had  their  day  of  enterprise,  wealth*  and 
power.  They  had  been  endeavoring^  during  the  course 


308  POTATOE. 

of  the  fifteenth  century,  to  find  out  by  sea  a  way  to  the 
countries  from  which  the  Moors  brought  them  ivory 
and  gold  dust  across  the  desart.  They  discovered  the 
Madeiras,  the  Canaries,  the  Azores,  the  Cape  de  Verd 
islands,  the  coast  of  Guinea,  and  finally,  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope.  They  had  long  wished  to  share  in  the 
profitable  traffic  of  the  Venetians,  and  this  last  discov- 
ery opened  to  them  a  probable  prospect  of  doing  so.^ 
In  1497,  Vasco  de  Gama  sailed  from  the  port  of  Lisbon 
\vith  a  fleet  of  four  ships,  and  after  a  navigation  of  elev- 
en months,  doubled  the  Cape,  and  arrived  upon  the 
coast  of  Indostan,  and  thus  completed  a  course  of  dis- 
coveries which  had  been  pursued  with  great  steadiness, 
for  near  a  century  together. — Mam  Smith. 

POTATOE,  a  most  valuable  root,  which  is  gener- 
ally supposed  to  have  been  found  originally  in  North 
America.  This  root  was,  for  many  years,  expressly 
proscribed  in  France,  by  reason  that  its  introduction  into 
that  kingdom  happened  to  be  succeeded  by  an  epidem- 
ical disorder.  It  was  not  much  cultivated  in  Europe 
till  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century ;  and  even  then 
was  chiefly  confined  to  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  and 
seldom  seen,  except  in  gardens,  in  some  parts  of  Ger- 
many, until  within  a  few  years  past,  the  inhabitants 
would  almost  consent  to  starve,  rather  than  eat  this 
pleasant  and  wholesome  vegetable.  Count  Rumford 
exerted  himself  to  bring  it  into  favor  in  Bavaria,  arid  at 
length  succeeded  ;  at  first  he  found  much  difficulty  in 
bringing  the  poor  people  there  to  use  it.  The  act  of 
boiling  alters  and  meliorates  the  nature  of  pota- 
toes 5  and,  according  to  Count  Rumford,  the  best  way 
of  boiling  them  is  as  follows.  Put  them  into  a  vessel 
not  of  boiling  water,  like  greens,  but  into  a  pot  with 
cold  water,  not  sufficient  to  cover  them,  as  they  will 
produce,  of  themselves,  before  they  boil,  a  considerable 
quantity  of  fluid.  During  the  boiling,  throwing  in  a  lit- 
tle salt  occasionally  is  found  a  great  improver.  When 
boiled,  pour  oft'  the  water,  and  evaporate  the  moisture, 
by  placing  the  vessel  in  which  the  potatoes  were  boiled 
once  more  over  the  fire.  Boiling  potatoes  m'$t^ain,  in 
the  opinion  of  Count  Rumford,  is  less  eligible  ;  because 
immersion  in  water  causes  the  discharge  of  a  certain 


POWDER  PLOT— POWHATANS.          309 

substance,  which  the  steam  alone  is  incapable  of  ef- 
fecting, and  by  retaining  which  the  flavor  of  the  root 
is  injured. 

POWDER  PLOT,  an  horrible  popish  plot  to  blow 
up  the  parliament-house,  in  England.  In  the  year  1605, 
and  in  the  reign  of  James  I.  some  of  the  most  zealous 
of  the  popish  party,  under  the  direction  of  Garnet,  the 
superior  of  the  Jesuits  in  England,  conspired  to  exter- 
minate, at  one  blow,  the  most  powerful  of  the  protes- 
tants  in  that  country,  and  to  re-establish  the  catholic 
faith.  Their  conspiracy  had  for  its  object  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  king  and  parliament:  and  for  this  purpose 
they  lodged  thirty -six  barrels  of  gun- powder  in  a  vault 
beneath  the  house  of  lords.  The  time  fixed  for  the  ex- 
ecution of  the  plot,  was  the  fifth  of  November;  which 
was  the  day  appointed  for  the  meeting  of  the  parlia- 
ment, when  the  kin^,  queen,  and  prince  of  Wales,  were 
expected  to  be  in  the  house,  together  with  the  principal 
nobility  and  gentry.  Guido  Fawkes.  a  Spanish  officer, 
who  was  sent  for  that  purpose  from  Flanders,  was  en- 
trusted with  the  most  trying  part  of  the  enterprise;  and 
when  arrested,  the  matches,  and*  every  thing  proper  for 
setting  fire  to  the  train,  were  found  in  his  pocket.  This 
shocking  conspiracy  was  discovered  by  an  anonymous 
letter,  directed  to  lord  Monteagle,  which  solemnly 
warned  him  against  entering  the  parliament-house  on 
that  day.- — Russell. 

POWHATANS,  a  powerful  nation  of  Indians, 
which  occupied  the  whole  tract  of  country  (now  called 
Virginia)  between  the  sea  shore  and  the  falls  of  the  riv- 
ers :  the  nation  consisted  of  thirty  tribes  5  and  the  chief 
sachem  was  called  Powhatan,  at  the  time  of  the  first 
effectual  settlement  from  Europe,  in  1610.  In  the  ear- 
ly progress  of  the  settlement,  Captain  John  Smith,  a 
distinguished  founder  of  the  colony  of  Virginia,  was  cap- 
tured by  the  savages,  and  brought  before  their  old  sa- 
chem Powhatan,  who  received  him  in  royal  state.  He 
was  seated  on  a  kind  of  throne,  elevated  above  the  floor 
of  a  large  Jyjt,  in  the  midst  of  which  was  a  fire  :  and 
was  clotheer  in  a  robe  of  racoon  skins.  On  each  hand 
of  the  sachem  sat  his  daughters,  two  beautiful  girls; 


310  PROSCRIPTION. 

and  along  each  side  of  the  house,  a  row  of  his  counsel* 
lors,  painted,  and  adorned  with  feathers  and  shells. — 
Upon  the  entrance  of  Smith,  a  great  shout  was  made  : 
water  was  brought  to  wash  his  hands,  and  he  was  serv- 
ed with  a  buut.li  of  feathers  for  a  towel.  Having  feast- 
ed him  after  their  manner,  along  consultation  was  held, 
which  being  ended,  two  large  stones  were  brought  in, 
on  one  of  which  his  head  was  laid,  and  clubs  were  lifted 
up  to  beat  out  his  brains.  At  this  critical  moment, 
Pocahontas,  a  girl  about  sixteen,  and  the  favorite  daugh- 
ter of  the  sachem,  sprang  from  her  seat  at  her  father's 
side,  flew  to  the  prisoner,  took  his  head  in  her  arms, 
and  laid  her  own  upon  it.  Her  tender  intreaties  pre- 
vailed ;  the  old  sachem  consented  that  Smith  should 
live  to  make  hatchets  for  him,  and  ornaments  for  her. 
In  1613,  Pocahontas  was  married  to  Mr.  John  Rolle,  an 
Englishman,  who  soon  after  visited  England  with  his 
wife,  where  she  publicly  professed  the  Christian  faith, 
was  baptised,  and  died  in  1617,  aged  22;  leaving  a 
daughter,  from  whom  some  of  the  most  respectable  fa- 
milies of  Virginia  are  descended. — Belknap. 

PROSCRIPTION,* a  most  horrible  method  of  assas- 
sination, which  was  practised  in  the  Roman  Republic,  bj 
the  leaders  of  the  predominant  factions.  The  manner 
of  proscribing  was,  to  write  down  the  names  of  those 
who  were  doomed  to  die,  and  expose  them  on  tables 
fixed  up  in  the  public  places  of  the  city,  with  the  prom- 
ise of  a  certain  reward  for  the  head  of  each  person  so 
proscribed.  The  first  author  and  inventor  of  the  pro- 
scription, was  Sylla,  a  Roman  general,  who  entering  the 
city  with  an  army,  about  eighty  years  before  the  Chris- 
tian era,  proscribed  the  most  distinguished  adherents  to 
the  opposite  party,  not  only  at  Rome,  but  through  all 
the  towns  of  Italy  ;  and  also  proscribed  many  rich  men, 
merely  for  the  sake  of  confiscating  their  estates.  An- 
other proscription  was  afterwards  made  by  the  Trium- 
virate, Octavius,  Mark  Antony,  and  Lepidus  ;  three  ge- 
nerals of  armies,  who  usurped  the  government  of  the 
republican  joint  partnership  among  themselves.  The 
last  proscription  comprehended  three  hundoul  senators, 
and  more  tlian  two  thousand  knights.  It  was  forbidden 
under  pain  of  death,  to  conceal  or  assist  any  proscribed 


PROTESTANTS— PRUSSIA,  3 1 1 

person  ;  a  reward  was  ottered  to  whoever  would  kill 
them,  and  even  the  freedom  of  the  city  to  slaves  who 
assassinated  their  masters.  This  proscription  included 
Cicero,  one  of  the  greatest  men  and  best  patriots  that 
ever  Jived.  Cicero  fled,  on  receiving  notice  that  he  was 
proscribed.  He  was  pursued  and  murdered  by  Popilius 
Laenas,  a  tribune  or  colonel  of  the  army,  whom  Cicero 
had  formerly  defended  and  preserved  in  a  capital  cause. 
Cicero's  head,  and  both  his  hands  were  cut  off',  and  car- 
ried to  Rome,  and  the.  head  was  ordered  to  be  fixed,  be- 
tween the  two  hands,  upon  the  rostra  ;  where  his  unri- 
valled powers  of  eloquence  had  often  been  employed 
in  defence  of  the  lives,  the  fortunes,  and  the  liberties  of 
the  Roman  people.  The  murderer  of  this  great  and 
excellent  man  received  about  eight  thousand  pounds 
sterling,  as  the  re  ward  of  his  villany. — Jlfiddleton,  Mil- 
lot.  The  Roman  proscription  was  copied  by  Marat, 
Robespierre,  and  some  other  bloody  Jacobins  of  France; 
wiio  seemed  ambitious  to  exceed  all  preceding  usurpers 
and  murderers,  in  deeds  of  cruelty. 

PROTESTANTS,  dissenters  from  the  church  of 
Rome.  In  the  year  Io29,  the  emperor  of  Germany 
.appointed  a  diet,  or  assembly  of  princes,  at  Spire*,  on 
the  river  Rhine,  in  order  to  take  into  consideration  the 
state  of  religion.  The  diet,  after  much  dispute,  issued 
a  decree  reprobating  the  doctrines  preached  by  Martin 
Luther,  and  prohibiting  all  innovations  in  religion. — 
Against:  this  decree,  as  unjust  and  impious,  the  elector 
of  Saxony,  the  landgrave  of  Hesse,  the  duke  of  Luuen- 
burg,  the  prince  of  Anhait.  together  with  the  deputies 
of  fourteen  imperial  or  free  cities,  entered  a  solemn 
protest.  On  that  account  they  were  called  Protestants  ; 
an  appellation  which  has  since  become  common  to  all 
the  Christian  sects,  of  whatever  denominations,  that 
have  revolted  from  the  church  of  Rome.- — Russell. 

PRUSSIA,  a  kingdom  of  Europe,  bordering  on  the 
Baltic  Sea,  about  five  hundred  miles  in  length,  and  one 
hundred  in  breadth  in  the  narrowest  part.  This  king- 
dom was  scarcely  known  among  the  nations  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  eighteenth  century.  Frederick  Wil- 
liam, the  father  of  Frederick  called  the  Great,  is  repre- 


312  PRUTH— PTARMIGAN. 

sented  to  have  been  an  unpolished  and  brutal  tyrant.— ~ 
He  used  to  walk  from  his  palace,  clothed  in  an  old  blue 
coat,  with  large  copper  buttons  half  way  down  his 
thighs  ;  and  if  he  happened  to  meet  a  woman,  he  would 
sternly  say  to  her,  get  home,  you  lazy  drab!  in  honest 
woman  has  no  business  over  the  threshold  of  her  own 
door:  which  words  he  would  accompany  with  a  box 
on  the  ear,  a  kick,  or  some  strokes  on  the  shoulders 
with  his  huge  cane.  This  royal  brute  died  in  the  year 
1740;  and  soon  after  the  commencement  of  the  reign 
of  his  son,  the  Great  Frederick,  the  Prussians  began  to 
have  a  taste  for  the  conveniences  and  elegancies  of  life. 
Some  people  then  began  to  have  furniture  in  their  hou- 
ses, and  some  even  to  have  shirts  :  formerly,  like  their 
iron-hearted  monarch,  they  only  wore  sleeves  and  fore- 
bodies,  tied  on  with  packthread. —  Voltaire. 

PRUTH,  a  river  of  Poland,  which  passes  through 
Moldavia,  a  province  of  Turkey  in  Europe,  and  falls 
into  the  Danube.  On  the  banks  of  the  Pruth,  Peter 
the  Great,  emperor  of  Russia,  with  his  army,  was  sur- 
rounded in  the  year  1711,  by  two  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  Turks ;  and  there  was  seemingly  no  possibili- 
ty of  escaping  death  or  captivity.  In  this  dreadful  ex- 
tremity, Peter,  having  formed  the  desperate  resolution 
of  attempting  to  force  his  way  through  the  enemy  with 
fixed  bayonets,  retired  to  his  tent,  at  the  approach  of 
night,  in  violent  agitation  of  mind  :  giving  positive  or- 
ders that  no  person  whatsoever  should  be  admitted  to 
disturb  his  privacy.  Catharine,  a  Livonian  captive,  of 
low  condition,  whom  Peter  had  married  and  raised  to 
the  throne,  and  who  accompanied  him  in  this  expedi- 
tion, ventured  for  once,  to  disobey  him.  Entering  the 
melancholy  abode  of  her  husband,  and  throwing  her- 
self at  his  feet,  she  entreated  permission  to  offer,  in  his 
name,  proposals  of  peace  to  the  grand  visier.  Peter, 
after  some  hesitation,  consented  5  and  Catharine,  by  the 
most  consummate  prudence,  succeeded  in  her  mission  : 
a  peace  was  made  ;  and  Peter  was  allowed  to  retire 
with  his  army. — Russell. 

PTARMIGAN,  a  fowl  or  bird  peculiar  to  the  barren, 
frozen  regions  of  Lapland.  It  never  migrates  to  the 


PYRAMID— QUADRUPEDS.  313 

south.  It  seems  to  have  been  made  for  the  particular 
use  of  the  habiters  of  that  climate,  and  clothed  and  for- 
tified purposely  for  the  endurance  of  its  rigors  ;  its  verj 
claws  being  covered  with  feathery  bristles.  It  lives 
under  the  snow,  for  months  together,  on  the  suds  of  the 
dwarf-birch,  and  supplies  the  Laplander  with  a  consid- 
erable part  of  his  food  during  autumn  and  winter.  The 
hand  of  Providence  was  scarcely  more  evident  in  send- 
ing quails  to  the  camp  of  Israel,  than  in  providing  the 
Laplander  with  the  Ptarmigan, 

PYRAMID,  a  solid  edifice,  in  the  form  of  a  sugar- 
loaf,  with  a  large  base,  and  terminating  in  a  point  at  the 
top.  The  largest  of  the  pyramids  of  Egypt,  according 
to  Herodotus,  was  built  by  Cheops.  This  prince,  he 
tells  us,  reigned  fifty  years,  twenty-two  of  which  he  em- 
ployed in  building  the  pyramids.  The  third  part  of  the 
inhabitants  of  Egypt  were  employed,  by  forced  service, 
in  hewing,  transporting,  and  raising  the  stones.  This 
pyramid  is  near  five  hundred  feet  in  perpendicular 
height,  but  if  measured  obliquely  to  the  terminating 
point,  seven  hundred  feet;  it  is  six  hundred  and  sixty 
feet  square  at  the  base,  covering  exactly  ten  English 
acres  $  and  sixteen  feet  at  the  top.  It  contains  a  room, 
thirty -four  feet  long,  and  seventeen  broad,  in  which  is  a 
marble  chest,  without  cover  or  contents,  supposed  to 
have  been  designed  for  the  tomb  of  the  founder.  The 
pyramids  of  Egypt,  those  monuments  of  human  pride 
and  tolly,  have  probably  stood  almost  three  thousand 
years.  From  the  relations  of  modern  travellers,  they 
seem  to  be  nearly  in  the  same  state  as  when  they  were 
viewed  by  Herodotus,  above  two  thousand  and  two  hun- 
dred years  ago. —  Volmy,  Russell. 


Q. 

C^UADRUPEDS,  four  footed  animals.  «  According 
to  Mr.  Button's  latest  conclusions  in  his  JBpopues  de, 
la  JVoftcre,  there  are  three  hundred  species  or  quadru- 
peds ;  and  America,  according  to  the  Abbe  Clavigero, 
C  c 


314       QUAIL— QUEBEC—QUICKSILVER. 

contains  about  one  half  of  these.  There  may,  howev- 
er, be  many  species  yet  unknown,  in  those  parts  of  the 
earth  which  have  not  yet  been  explored  :  nor  is  the 
enumeration  complete,  in  those  countries  which  are 
known." 

QUAIL,  a  well  known  bird.  The  quails  which  an- 
nually take  their  departure  from  Europe,  on  their  way 
to  Africa,  have  such  a  perfect  knowledge  of  the  autum- 
nal equinox,  that  the  day  of  their  arrival  in  Malta,  where 
they  rest  for  twenty-four  hours,  is  marked  in  the  al- 
manacks of  the  island,  about  the  22d  of  September,  and 
varies  every  year  as  the  equinox. — &£.  Pierre. 

QUEBEC,  a  city  of  Lower  Canada,  and  the  capital 
of  all  British  America ;  built  upon  a  steep  rock  on  the 
northern  bank  of  the  river  St.  Lawrence  ;  lying  about 
three  hundred  and  twenty  miles  from  the  sea.  This 
r<city  was  taken  from  the  French  by  a  British  army,  in 
September,  1759.  Its  capture  was  preceded  by  an  ob- 
stinate and  bloody  battle,  in  which  the  brave  Wolfe, 
who  commanded  the  British  forces,  fell  in  the  moment 
of  victory.  When  told,  after  receiving  the  mortal 
wound,  that  the  French  army  was  routed,  and  had  fled 
on  all  sides,  "  Then  I  am  happy,"  he  said,  and  instantly 
expired.  Montcalm,  the  French  general,  fell  also  on 
the  field  of  battle;  nor  were  his  dyin^  words  less  re- 
markable. On  being  told  that  he  could  survive  only  a 
few  hours,  he  gallantly  replied,  "  so  much  the  better  ! 
I  shall  not  then  live  to  see  the  surrender  of  Quebec." 
In  December,  1775,  Quebec  was  attacked  by  the  Ameri- 
can forces,  under  the  command  of  the  brave  general 
Montgomery,  who  was  slain,  and  his  army  repulsed. 

QUICKSILVER,  (commonly  known,  in  medicine, 
by  the  name  of  mercury]  a  mineral  fluid,  of  so  subtile 
a  nature  that  it  penetrates  the  parts  of  metals,  renders 
them  brittle,  and  partly  dissolves  them.  It  is  about 
fourteen  or  fifteen  times  heavier  than  water  :  it  is  so  re- 
markably thin  that  it  requires  the  intense  cold  of  40  de- 
grees below  0  Of  Farenheit's  scale  to  freeze  it.  Quick- 
r  is  heavier  than  any  m^tal  except  platina  and  gold. 
It  is  spread  over  looking-glasses  to  make  them  reflect 


RAIN— -RAINBOW.  315 

the  image;  it  has  been  substituted  with  great  advan- 
tage for  spirits  of  ivine,  to  fill  the  tubes  of  thermome- 
ters ;  it  is  used  in  extracting  gold  arid  silver  from  the 
earthy  matters  with  which  they  are  mixed  :  it  is  used 
in  various  manufactures;  among  the  moderns  it  is  of- 
ten given  in  medicine,  which  ought  ever  to  be  done 
with  great  prudence  and  caution.  Quicksilver  is  found 
in  the  mines  of  India,  Peru,  and  South  America. 


II. 


a  well  known  meteor,  which  descends  from 
the  clouds  in  drops  of  water.  The  quantity  of  rain 
which  falls  at  those  places  in  North  America  where 
meteorological  observations  have  been  made,  has  been 
found  to  be  more  than  double  to  that  which  generally 
falls  in  the  same  latitudes  of  Europe.  We  cannot  well 
account  for  this,  without  supposing  that  the  immense 
forests  of  America  supply  a  larger  quantity  of  water 
for  the  formation  of  the  clouds,  than  the  more  cultivat- 
ed countries  of  Europe  :  hence,  in  proportion  as  these 
forests  are  cleared,  the  quantity  of  rain  will  of  course 
be  diminished.  When  rain  falls  in  Egypt,  (an  event 
not  common)  there  is  a  general  joy  among  the  people  : 
they  assemble  together  in  the  streets,  they  sing,  are  all 
in  motion,  and  shout  I'a  Mlah!  Fa  Mobarek  !  that  is  to 
say,  O  God  !  O  blessed  !  &c.  —  Williams,  Value.  y. 

RAINBOW,  a  brilliant  semicircle  or  arch  in  the 
sky,  opposite  to  the  sun,  made  by  the  refraction,  of  its 
rays  in,  and  their  reflection  from,  the  falling  drops  of 
rain.  The  manner  in  which  the  rainbow  is  produced, 
was  in  some  measure  understood  before  Sir  Isaac  New- 
ton had  discovered  his  theory  of  colours.  The  first 
person  who  expressly  shewed  the  rainbow  to  be  formed 
from  the  reflection  of  the  sun-beams  from  drops  of  fall- 
ing rain,  was  Antonio  de  Dominis.  This  was  after- 
wards more  fully  and  distinctly  explained  by  Des  Cartes. 
But  what  caused  the  diversity  of  its  colours  was  not 
then  understood;  it  was  reserved  for  the  immortal 


316        RASP-HOUSE—RATTLE-SNAKE. 

Newton  to  discover  that  the  rays  of  light  consisted  of 
seven  combined  colours  of  different  refrangibility,  which 
could  be  separated  at  pleasure  by  a  wedge  of  glass  or 
a  prism.  When  the  waters  of  Noah's  deluge  had  as- 
suaged, the  rainbow  was  expressly  constituted  as  a  sign 
to  men ;  and  of  this  some  heathen  nations  seem  to- 
have  had  a  traditionary  notion:  hence  these  lines  in 
Homer. 

"Jove's  wonderous  bow  of  three  celestial  dyes, 

44  Plac'd  as  a  sign  to  man  amid  the  skies.*' — Pembertoti. 

RASP-HOUSE,  a  famous  work -house  in  the  city  of 
Amsterdam,  called  Rasp-house,  because  the  principal 
employment  there  is  rasping  logwood  :  that  article  be- 
ing an  important  article  of  traffic  among  the  Dutch.  In 
the  rasp-house  there  are  many  different  apartments,  for 
the  reception  of  different  kinds  of  delinquents  ;  some  for 
the  merely  idle;  some  for  the  idle  and  vicious ;  some 
for  stragglers,  vagrants  an(J  beggars  ;  some  for  idle  and 
vicious  boys,  who  have  here  a  school  provided  for  them  ; 
some  for  undutiful  and  wicked  youths,  of  reputable 
families,  who  are  sent  hither  by  their  parents  and  guar- 
dians, and  confined  for  a  short  time  in  solitary  cells. 
Sometimes  a  wife,  having  a  bad  husband,  gets  him 
sent  to  the  rasp-house  to  mead  hi&  manners. 

RATTLE-SNAKE,  a  serpent  with  rattles  at  the  end 
of  his  tail,  whose  bite  is  poisonous,  but  the  poison  ope- 
rates so  slowly  as  to  give  time  to  procure  relief:  where 
tlrts  snake  is  plenty,  there  are  several  antidotes  with 
which  almost  every  family  is  acquainted.  They  are 
extremely  inactive,  and  if  not  touched,  are  inoffensive. 
Persons  acquainted  with  these  snakes,  when  they  find 
them  asleep,  put  a  small  forked  stick  over  their  necks 
which  they  keep  immoveably  fixed,  giving  the  snake  a 
piece  of  leather  to  bite  ;  and  this  they  pull  back  seve- 
ral times  with  great  force,  until  they  observe  their  two 
poisonous  fangs  torn  out.  Then  they  cut  off  the  head, 
skin  the  body,  and  cook  it  as  we  do  eels;  and  their 
flesh  is  sweet!  and  white.  There  have  been  instances 
of  taming  the  rattlesnake,  after  extracting  his  fangs, 
find  he  becomes  perfectly  gentle ;  will  come  at  the 


RAVEN— RED  ELM— RED  SEA.         317 

of  his  keeper,  and  turn  upon  his  back  to  be  stroked.-— 
St.  John. 

RAVEN,  or  Crow,  a  bird  of  all  climates.  He  can 
bear  the  heats  of  the  most  sultry  regions,  and  can  also 
bear  the  most  pinching  cold ;  ail  weather  seems  indif- 
ferent to  him,  and  the  most  loathsome  food  sustains 
him ;  yet  he  sometimes  lives  near  a  hundred  years. 
He  is  generally  of  a  glossy  black ;  but  in  the  polar  re- 
gions, is  sometimes  seen  of  a  milk  white.  A  raven 
may  be  tamed  and  trained  for  catching  other  birds  ;  he 
may  be  taught  to  fetch  and  carry  like  a  dog ;  he  may  be 
learned  to  speak  like  a  parrot,  but  his  voice  is  hoarse  ; 
and  he  may  be  taught  to  sing.  They  have  an  ingenious 
stratagem  for  breaking  the  shells  of  shell-fish.  When 
they  are  fishing  by  the  sea  shores,  they  carry  a  muscle 
or  other  shell-fish,  high  up  in  the  air,  and  then  dash  it 
down  upon  a  rock  ;  by  which  means  the  shell  is  broken, 
and  they  obtain  the  food  it  contains. — Goldsmith,  Smellie. 
When  ravens  are  enjoying  their  chosen  repast,  one  of 
them  keeps  guard,  and  gives  warning  on  the  approach, 
of  danger.  This  they  do  by  turns ;  each  relieving  each 
at  short  intervals.  Ravens  and  dogs  sometimes  feed  to- 
gether, amicably,  upon  the  same  carcase.  In  East  In- 
dia, as  Mr.  Buchanan  remarks,  vultures  are  frequently 
seen  feeding  in  the  company  of  dogs  and  jackalls — not 
upon  the  carcases  of  brutes,  but  (horrible  to  relate !)  up- 
on the  dead  bodies  of  men  and  women. 

RED  ELM,  a  large  tree  that  grows  in  vast  num- 
bers in  the  province  01  Canada.  The  Canadian  Indians 
hollow  the  red  elm  into  canoes,  some  of  which  made 
out  of  one  piece,  will  contain  twenty  persons ;  others 
are  made  of  ihe  bark ;  the  different  pieces  of  which, 
they  sew  together  with  the  inner  rind,  and  daub  over 
the  seams  with  pitch,  or  rather  a  bituminous  matter  re- 
sembling pitch,  to  prevent  their  leaking.  The  ribs  of 
these  canoes  are  made  of  the  boughs  of  trees.1 — Win- 
terbotham. 

RED  SEA,  the  sea  that  separates  Africa,  on  the 
west,  from  Arabia  in  Asia,  on  the  east ;  being  thirteen 
fluudred    miles  long,  and  two  hundred  wide  in  the 
C  c  2 


318  REIN  DEER, 

widest  place.  On  the  north  it  is  separated  from  the 
Mediterranean,  by  the  Isthmus  of  Suez,  and  on  the 
south  it  communicates  with  the  Arabian  Sea  and  Indian 
Ocean,  by  the  straits  of  Babelmartdel.  This  sea  is 
celebrated  in  scripture  history,  for  the  miraculous 
passage  of  the  children  of  Israel  through  it  in  their 
journey  from  Egypt.  The  seasons  for  entering  and 
leaving  the  Red  Sea  are  determined  bj  the  change  of 
the  monsoons,  which  do  not,  as  in  India,  depend  upon 
the  equinoxes.  The  last  days  of  November,  or  the 
beginning  of  December,  bring  the  northerly  monsoon  : 
and  from  that  period  the  currents  set  into  the  Straits  of 
Babelmandel,  with  a  prodigious  rapidity,  till  the  com- 
jnencement  of  June,  when  the  wind  veering  to  the 
north  or  north-west,  they  run  in  a  southerly  direction. 
During  the  whole  of  the  southerly  monsoon,  those 
Avhich  are  in  the  Red  Sea  must  remain  there,  no  ves- 
sels being  able  to  surmount  the  united  force  of  the  wind 
and  current. — Grandpre.  See  MONSOON. 

REIN  DEER,  a  most  extraordinary  and  useful  ani- 
mal. It  is  a  native  of  the  icy  regions  of  the  north,  and 
cannot  be  made  to  live  in  a  southern  climate.  Provi- 
dence seems  to  have  wonderfully  fitted  it  to  answer  the 
necessity  of  that  hardy  race  of  mankind  who  live  near 
the  pole.  In  Lapland  this  animal  is  converted  to  the 
utmost  advantage  ;  and  some  herdsmen  in  that  country 
are  known  to  possess  above  a  thousand  in  a  single  herd. 
They  live  on  moss,  which  every  where  covers  the 
ground  and  the  forests.  The  Laplanders  yoke  them  to 
light  sledges  ;  and  they  can  go  about  thirty  miles  with- 
out halting,  ajid  this  without  any  great  or  dangerous 
effort :  when  hard  pushed  they  willtrot  between  forty 
and  sixity  English  miles  at  one  stretch.  No  part  of  thi& 
animal  is  thrown  away  as  useless.  The  blood  is  pre- 
served in  small  casks,  to  make  sauce  with  the  marrow 
in  spring.  The  horns  aro  sold  to  be  converted  into 
glue.  The  sinews  are  dried,  and  divided  so  as  to  make 
the  strongest  kind  of  sewing  thread.  The  tongues, 
which  are  cdnsidered  as  a  great  delicacy,  are  dried,  and 
sold  into  the  more  southern  provinces.  The  intestines 
themselves  are  washed  ami  preserved  for  food,  and  are 
in  high  esteem  among  the  natives.  The  people  of" 


RHINOCEROS— RHODE  ISLAND—RHONE.    319 

Lapland   and    Greenland    could   not  possibly  subsist 
without  the  rein  deer. — Goldsmith. 

RHINOCEROS,  a  native  of  the  desarts  of  Asia  and 
Africa,  and  is  usually  found  in  those  extensive  forests 
that  are  frequented  by  the  lion  and  the  elephant.  It  is 
equal  to  the  elephant  in  bulk  5  and  if  it  appears  much 
smaller  to  the  eye,  the  reason  is  that  its  legs  are  much 
shorter.  The  skin,  which  is  of  a  dirty  brown  colour,  is 
so  thick  as  to  resist  a  musket  ball.  From  its  snout  there 
grows  a  horn  which  is  sometimes  found  from  three  to 
four  feet  and  an  half  long  ;  it  is  composed  of  the  most 
solid  substance,  and  pointed  so  as  to  inflict  the  most  fa- 
tal wounds.  This  animal,  defended  as  he  is  on  every 
side,  by  a  thick,  horny  skin,  which  the  claws  of  the  lion 
or  the  tiger  are  unable  to  pierce,  and  armed  before  with 
a  weapon  which  even  the  elephant  does  not  choose  to 
oppose,  reigns  absolute  monarch  of  the  forests.  The 
natives  of  Caffraria,  in  South  Africa,  represented  the 
rhinoceros  to  Captain  Stout,  as  driving  a  whole  herd  of 
lions  before  him  like  a  flock  of  sheep  :  and  describes 
them  as  making  every  effort  in  their  power  to  avoid  an 
encounter  with  them, 

RHODE-ISL  AND,  one  of  the  smallest  of  the  United 
States  ;  its  greatest  length  being  forty-seven  miles,  and 
its  greatest  breadth  thirty  -seven,.  It  is  bounded  north 
and  east  by  the  commonwealth  of  Massachusetts  ;  south 
by  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  and  west  by  Connecticut.  The 
principal  towns  are  Newport  and  Providence — Morse. 
The  island  upon  which  Newport  stands,  and  from  which 
the  state  takes  its  name,  is  thirteen  miles  in  length,  and 
its  average  breadth  is  about  four  miles.  Its  soil,  climate 
arid  situation  are  so  fine,  that  in  its  former  flourishing 
state,  it  was  called  by  travellers  the  Eden  of  America. 
Providence  is  the  oldest  town  in  the  state,  and  was  first 
settled  by  Roger  Williams  and  his  followers,  in  1636. 
It  is  situated  on  both  sides  Providence  river,  thirty -five 
miles  from  the  sea,  and  thirty  miles  north  by  west  from 
Newport  5  it  is  a  very  flourishing  commercial  town. 

RHONE,  "  a  large  and  rapid  river  of  Europe,  which 
rises  in  Swisserlaad,  and  running  through  the  city  of 


$20        RHUBARB— RICE—RIVER  HORSE. 

Geneva,  passes  to  Lyons,  and  through  several  other 
towns  of  France,  and  falls  into  the  Mediterranean,  by 
several  mouths."  A  judgment  may  be  formed,  simply 
from  the  map,  whether  the  rivers  which  water  any  coun- 
try are  slow  or  rapid,  and  whether  that  country  is  flat  or 
elevated,  by  the  angle  which  tiie  confluent  rivers  form 
with  their  courses.  Thus,  most  of  those  which  throw 
themselves  into  the  Rhone,  form  right  angles  with  that 
river  to  check  its  impetuosity.  Some  of  these  conflu- 
ent rivers  are  real  dykes,  which  cross  the  main  river 
from  side  to  side,  in  such  a  manner,  that  the  river  cross- 
ed, which  was  running  very  rapidly  above  the  conflu- 
ence, flows  very  gently  below  it.  On  the  other  hand,  in 
a  flat  country,  where  the  main  river  flows  slowly,  the 
latteral  rivers  form  an  acute  angle  with  its  source,  to 
accelerate  its  stream. — St.  Pierre. 

RHUBARB,  a  plant  of  China  and  Turkey,  whose 
roots  are  of  great  use  in  medicine.  The  stem  of  rhu- 
barb resembles  a  small  bamboo,  or  Chinese  cane  ;  it  is 
hollow  and  exceedingly  brittle ;  it  rises  to  the  height  of 
three  or  four  feet,  and  is  of  a  dusky  violet  colour.  The 
roots  of  rhubarb  reckoned  best,  are  those  which  are  he#V- 
ic»t  and  most  variegated  with  veins.  The  Chinese,  af- 
ter having  cleansed  the  roots,  cut  them  in  slices  an  inch 
or  two  in  thickness,  and  dry  them  on  stone  slabs,  so  as 
to  free  them  from  all  their  moisture.  A  pound  of  the 
best  rhubarb  in  China  costs  only  two  pence. — Winter - 
botham, 

RICE,  a  valuable  grain  that  will  grow  only  in  hot 
climates,  and  on  a  boggy  soil,  which  must,  a  part  of  the 
year,  be  necessarily  covered  with  stagnant  water :  con- 
sequently rice  countries  are  always  unhealthy.  A  rice 
field  produces  a  much  greater  quantity  of  food  than  the 
most  fertile  corn  field.  Two  crops  in  the  year,  from, 
thirty  to  sixty  bushels  each,  is  said  to  be  the  ordinary 
produce  of  an  acre,  in  Asia :  in  Carolina,  the  fields  pro- 
duce only  one  crop  in  the  year. — Jl.  Smith. 

RIVER  HORSE,  or  Hippopotamus,  probably  the  Be- 
hemoth mentioned  in  the  book  of  Job.  This  surprising 
animal  inhabits  the  rivers  and  lakes  of  Africa,  living,  ff& 


ROMANS.  321 

occasions  require,  either  in  the  water,  or  upon  the  lancL 
He  is  twice  the  size  of  the  largest  ox.  He  has  four  legs 
which  are  short  and  thick  :  his  head  Is  near  four  feet 
long,  and  nine  feet  round  ;  his  jaws  are  about  two  feet 
wide  ;  and  his  teeth  above  a  foot  in  length.  His  skin, 
generally,  is  so  thick  that  a  sword  will  not  pierce  it,  and 
even  a  bullet  can  hardly  enter  it  \  and  his  voice  is  loud 
and  horrible.  They  chiefly  keep  at  the  bottom  of  deep 
lakes  and  rivers,  especially  in  the  day  time,  catching 
fish  and  feeding  upon  them.  Sometimes,  however,  they 
walk  upon  the  shore,  and  sometimes  invade  the  fields 
of  standing  corn  ;  whence  they  are  driven  back  by  the 
cries  and  shouts  of  the  people  who  inhabit  the  country, 
and  keep  watch  against  this  fearful  enemy.  This  animal 
is  remarkably  constructed  for  his  manner  of  walking. 
He  is  furnished  with  a  cloven  foot,  and,  above  the  pas- 
tern, with  two  small  horny  substances,  which  bend  back- 
ward as  he  walks,  so  that  he  leaves  on  the  ground  an 
impression  which  seems  to  have  been  made  by  the  pres- 
sure of  four  paws  to  each  foot.  By  this  peculiar  struc- 
ture of  his  feet  he  is  kept  from  sinking,  at  the  bottom 
of  lakes  and  rivers,  and  upon  oozy  shores* — Goldsmith, 
St.  Pierre. 

ROMANS,  an  ancient  nation  of  Italy  ;  from  which 
we  have  derived  the  principles  of  our  jurisprudence,  a 
considerable  part  of  our  language,  and  most  of  our 
learning.  About  seven  hundred  and  fifty  years  before 
our  Saviour's  birth,  Romulus,  a  bold  politic  young  man, 
who  artfully  pretended  to  be  the  son  of  the  god  Mars, 
gathered  under  him  a  horde  of  vagrants  and  fugitives 
irom  justice,  to  the  number  of  about  three  thousand, 
and  settled  on  the  banks  of  the  river  Tiber,  where  they 
fortified  their  encampment  and  built  them  huts  ;  thus 
laying  the  foundations  of  a  city  and  a  state,  which  was 
afterwards  to  swallow  up  the  most  powerful  kingdoms. 
Romulus,  by  a  series  of  victories  increased  his  subjects 
to  the  number  of  forty-seven  thousand  ;  when,  becoming 
tyrannical,  he  was  privately  assassinated,  and  his  body 
hid:  meanwhile  it  was  reported  that  he  was  translated 
to  heaven,  and  exalted  to  godship.  He  was  succeeded 
by  Numa,  a  wise  prince,  who  laid  the  foundation  of  that 
system  of  policy  which  exalted  the  nation  to  the  highest 


322  ROMANS. 

pitch  of  power  and  grandeur.  The  Romans  had  a  suc- 
cession of  kings,  with  limited  power,  for  the  space  of 
two  hundred  and  forty -four  years  :  their  last  king  was 
Tarquin,  surnamed  the  Proud,  who  was  banished,  with 
all  his  family,  partly  for  his  own  tyranny,  but  principally 
by  reason  of  the  outrage  of  his  son  Sextus  against  the 
chaste  Lucretia.  After  the  abolition  of  royalty,  two  ma- 
gistrates were  chosen  annually  from  the  body  of  the  pa- 
tricians or  aristocracy,  who  exercised  the  royal  authori- 
ty, under  the  appellation  of  consuls  ;  and  a  new  magis- 
trate was  at  length  created  for  temporary  and  great 
emergencies,  called  dictator;  whose  power  was  absolute, 
but  continued  only  six  months.  The  patricians  had  en- 
grossed all  the  important  offices  both  civil  and  military, 
and  by  their  increasing  insolence  and  tyranny,  provoked 
the  plebeians  to  a  general  insurrection ;  who,  encamping 
upon  a  mountain  near  Rome,  and  threatening  vengeance 
and  destruction,  extorted  from  the  patricians  the  privi- 
lege of  having  officers  called  tribunes  of  the  people, 
vested  with  the  power  of  stopping  the  proceedings  of 
the  senate  by  a  veto,  and  whose  power  constantly  in- 
creased and  was  often  abused.  An  office  peculiar  to  the 
Roman  republic  was  that  of  censors ;  whose  business 
was  to  watch  over  the  manners  of  the  people,  and  who 
were  empowered  to  punish  and  degrade  any  citizen,  of 
whatever  rank,  that  should  be  found  offending  against  the 
established  rules  of  morality  and  decorum.  Among  the 
Romans,  in  the  best  days  of  the  republic,  labor  was  hon- 
ored, and  poverty  was  no  disgrace.  Cincinnatus  was 
twice  called  from  the  plough  to  lead  their  armies,  and  to 
sustain  the  highest  civil  office  in  the  state,  namely,  that 
of  dictator  ;  and  while  Regulus  was  at  the  head  of  an 
army  in  Africa,  against  the  Carthagenians.  the  senate 
supported  his  family  at  home,  by  defraying  the  expense 
of  tilling  his  little  n'eld.  The  Romans  had  been  a  na- 
tion three  hundred  years  before  they  had  any  written 
laws  5  and  their  first  laws  that  were  committed  to  writing, 
were  inscribed  upon  twelve  tables  of  oak,  which  were 
exposed  to  the  view  of  the  public.  About  four  hundred 
years  from  the  foundation  of  Rome,  the  plebeians  were 
admitted  i:o  the  consulship  ;  and  in  the  mean  while  a 
new  officer  was  created,  called  praetor,  who  performed 
the  duties  of  the  consuls  in  their  absence,  and  was  eligU 


ROME.  323 

ble  only  from  the  body  of  the  patricians.  In  the  whole 
space  of  five  hundred  years,  there  is  not  recorded  a  sin- 
gle instance  of  divorce  from  the  marriage  alliance.  This 
people,  (though  alv  ays  ferocious  and  cruel)  having  been 
remarkable,  during  the  long  space  of  live  centuries,  for 
an  unconquerable  love  of  liberty  and  an  invincible  cour- 
age in  its  defence,  and  for  industry,  temperance,  fru- 
gality, and  a  sacred  regard  to  their  promises  and  oaths  5 
they  at  last  were  ruined  by  their  victories,  their  con- 
quests, and  the  vast  extension  of  their  dominions  and 
increase  of  their  wealth.  Luxury,  voluptuousness  and 
debauchery,  pervaded  the  nation  ;  venality  was  practised 
with  unblushing  impudence  ;  every  thing  was  put  to 
sale.  Thus  they  prepared  themselves  for  the  fetters  of 
slavery  with  which  they  were  speedily  bound.  The  Ro- 
man republic  was  subverted,  and  a  military  despotism 
was  established  on  its  ruins.  The  noble  spirit  of  the 
nation  was  lost  forever.  The  Roman  senate  used  such 
fawning  adulation  to  Tiberius,  one  of  the  most  tyrannic- 
al of  their  emperors,  that  he  exclaimed,  O  servile  race, 
that  hug  your  chains!  The  Romans,  who  for  hundreds 
of  years  held  all  the  accessible  parts  of  Asia  and  Africa, 
as  well  as  Europe,  under  their  yoke,  fell  an  easy  prey, 
in  the  fifth  century,  to  hordes  of  semi -savages,  called 
Goths,  Vandals,  and  Huns.  Although  the  nation  is  en- 
tirely obliterated,  the  Roman  language,  or  Latin,  has 
acquired  immortality,  not  only  by  its  own  intrinsic  ex- 
cellence, but  still  more  by  the  orations  of  Cicero  and 
the  poetry  of  Virgil  and  Horace. 

ROME,  a  celebrated  city  of  Italy,  situated  in  latitude 
41°  54'  north,  on  the  river  Tiber,  which  runs  through  a 
part  of  it.  This  city  is  famous  for.  its  antiquity,  and  for 
the  extensive  power  and  tyranny  it  exercised,  during  a 
long;  succession  of  ages.  Rome  numbers  almost  twen- 
ty-six hundred  years  from  its  foundation.  For  about  six 
hundred  years  it  exercised  an  intolerable  despotism  over 
a  great  part  of  Europe,  Asia,  and  Africa  ;  and  for  near 
a  thousand  years  it  held  almost  all  Christendom  in  the 
chains  of  a  horrible  ecclesiastical  tyranny.  This  city, 
though  it  is  now  one  of  the  largest  and  finest  in  Europe, 
was  anciently  thrice  its  present  dimensions.  The  church 
of  St.  Peter  is  one  of  the  finest  buildings  in  the  world. 


NS. 


$-24  ROMEE— ROSE  WOOD— ROSICRUCIA 

Its  length  is  seven  hundred  and  thirty  feet ;  the  breadth 
five  hundred  and  twenty ;  and  the  height,  from  the  pave- 
ment to  the  top  of  the  cross  which  crowns  the  cupola, 
four  hundred  and  fifty  feet.  The  Pantheon  has  stood 
more  than  eighteen  hundred  years  ;  it  was  originally 
erected  to  the  honor  of  all  the  gods :  but  is  now  dedi- 
cated to  the  Virgin  Mary.  About  one  half  of  the  exter- 
nal circuit  of  Vespatian's  amphitheatre  still  remains  at 
Rome  5  the  Whole  is  computed  to  have  been  capable  of 
containing  eighty-five  thousand  spectators.  The  Vati- 
can, near  St.  Peter's  church,  is  said  to  contain  about  four 
thousand  and  four  hundred  apartments.  For  curious 
monuments  in  architecture,  painting,  and  sculpture, 
Rome  is  still  the  mistress  of  the  world  :  in  other  respects 
she  has  fallen  into  contempt. 

ROMEE,  the  name  of  an  operation  among  the  Ota- 
heiteans,  for  the  cure  of  bodily  pains,  particularly  the 
rheumatism  5  an  operation  far  exceeding  the  flesh  brush, 
or  any  external  friction.  It  is  tbus  performed  :  a  num- 
ber of  persons  lay  themselves  down  together,  placing 
the  diseased  in  the  midst  of  them  ;  when  they  begin  to 
squeeze  him,  fora  quarter  of  an  hour  or  more,  with 
both  hands  over  his  body,  but  more  particularly  on  the 
parts  complained  of,  till  his  bones  are  ready  to  crack, 
and  his  flesh  becomes  almost  a  mummy  ;  repeating  the 
operation  from  time  to  time  till  the  cure  is  perfected. — 
Captain  Cooke,  whilst  among  those  islanders,  was  af- 
flicted with  a  rheumatic  pain  extending  from  the  hip  to 
the  toot.  At  their  request  he  repeatedly  underwent 
the  operation  of  the  romee,  arid  was  quite  cured.— 
Cookers  Voyages. 

ROSE  WOOD,  a  tree  that  grows  in  China,  and  fur- 
nishes the  most  beautiful  and  durable  wood  used  by  the 
Chinese  artists.  It  is  of  a  very  dark  colour,  striped  and 
variegated  with  delicate  veins,  which  have  the  appear- 
ance of  painting.  It  is  used  for  making  different  pieces 
of  furniture,  winch  are  in  greater  request  and  fetch  a 
greater  price,  than  those  which  are  varnished. — Win- 
terbotham. 

ROSICRUCIANS,  a  sect  of  visionary  philosophers 


ROYAL  CANAL— RUMFORD'S  KITCHEN.     325 

and  chemists,  in  Germany,  of  whom  the  modern  illumi- 
nees  seem  to  have  been  the  genuine  offspring.  Chris- 
tian Roseneruezis  said  to  have  founded  this  order,  in  the 
fourteenth  century  5  who  pretended  to  have  derived  his 
wisdom  from  the  East,  particularly  from  Egypt  and  Fez. 
In  1614,  the  Rosicrucians  published  a  book  in  the  Ger- 
man language,  entitled  "  Tlie  Universal  and  General 
Reformation  of  the  World"  &c.  They  professed  sev- 
eral singular  dogmas  respecting  the  Christian  religion, 
which  they  were  thought,  in  reality,  to  disbelieve.  They 
asserted  that  human  life  was  capable  of  prolongation, 
like  a  fire  kept  up  by  combustible  matter;  and  to  their 
faithful  votaries  and  followers  they  promised  abundance 
of  celestial  wisdom,  exemption  from  disease,  and  an  im- 
mortal state  of  ever-blooming  youth, 

ROYAL  CANAL,  a  celebrated  canal  which  reaches 
from  Canton  to  Pekin,  in  China,  and  which  forms  a 
communication  between  the  southern  and  northern  pro- 
vinces. This  work  is  eighteen  hundred  miles  in  length  ; 
and  its  navigation  no  where  interrupted  but  by  the  moun- 
tain Mailing,  where  passengers  are  obliged  to  travel 
thirty  or  forty  miles  over  land.  In  this  canal  a  number 
of  others  terminate,  which  stretch  out  into  the  country, 
and  form  a  communication  between  the  neighboring 
towns,  cities,  and  villages. —  Winterbotham. 

RUM-FORD'S  KITCHEN,  a  famous  kitchen  at  Mu- 
nich, in  Bavaria,  for  feeding  paupers ;  instituted  and 
managed  by  Benjamin  Thompson,  Count  Rumford ; 
from  whose  publication  the  following  particulars  are 
stated.  1.  The  food  used,  as  found  by  experience  to  be 
the  cheapest,  most  savory,  and  most  nourishing  that 
could  be  provided,  was  a  soup  composed  of  pearl-bar- 
ley, pease,  potatoes,  cuttings  of  fine  wheaten  bread,  vin- 
egar, and  salt  and  water,  in  certain  proportions.  £.  The 
number  of  persons  who  were  fed  daily  from  this  kitch- 
en was,  at  a  medium,  in  summer,  about  one  thousand, 
and  in  winter,  about  twelve  hundred.  3.  The  whole 
work  of  the  kitchen  was  performed  with  great  ease,  by 
three  cook  maids.  4.  The  daily  expense  for  fire  wood 
amounted  to  no  more  than  four  pence  half  penny  ster- 
ling ;  although  pine  wood  was  seven  shillings  the  cord, 
D  d 


326  RUNNEMEDE— RUSSIA. 

and  oak  more  than  double  that  price,  5.  The  total  daily- 
expenses  of  providing  food  for  twelve  hundred  persons, 
was  only  one  pound  fifteen  shillings  and  two  pence  half 
penny  sterling  ;  this  sum  divided  by  1200,  making  the 
daily  expense  of  victualling  each  person,  a  mere  trifle 
more  than  one  third  of  a  sterling  penny,  and  considera- 
bly less  than  a  cent. — Bumford's  Essays. 

RUNNEMEDE,  a  celebrated  place,  situated  bet  ween 
Windsor  and  Staines,  in  England.  Here  King  John, 
after  a  debate  of  some  days,  signed  and  sealed  (June  19. 
1215,)  the  famous  Jlfagna  Charta,  or  Great  Charter; 
which  secured  very  important  privileges  to  every  or- 
der of  men  in  the  kingdom  ;  and  ordained,  in  par- 
ticular, that  no  king  of  England  should  thereafter  pre- 
sume to  levy  any  tax,  tallage  or  exaction,  without  the 
consent  of  the  parliament.  Long  afterwards,  in  the 
reign  of  Henry  111.  the  bishops  and  abbots  stood  round 
the  Great  Charter,  whilst  it  was  reading  in  parliament, 
with  burning  tapers  in  their  hands,  and  denounced  the 
sentence  of  excommunication  against  every  one  that 
should  thenceforth  dare  to  violate  that  fundamental  law. 
— Stuart,  Bishop  Porteus. 

RUSSIA,  a  vast  empire,  partly  in  Asia,  and  partly  in 
Europe  ;  bounded  on  the  north  by  the  Frozen  Ocean ;  on 
the  south  by  Great  Tartary,  the  Caspian  Sea,  and  Persia ; 
on  the  east  bv  the  north  Pacific  Ocean  ;  and  on  the  west 
by  Sweden,  Poland,  and  Lapland  ;  extending  in  length, 
according  to  Mr.  Tooke,  besides  reckoning  the  islands, 
above  nine  thousand  two  hundred  miles.,  and  in  breadth 
two  thousand  and  four  hundred  miles.  It  is  more  than 
three  times  as  large  as  the  ancient  Roman  empire  in  its 
greatest  extent ;  but  then  the  dominions  of  the  Romans 
consisted  of  the  finest  and  most  productive  countries  in 
the  whole  world.  The  inhabitants  of  Russia  form  at 
Isazt  eighty  distinct  nations,  as  well  in  their  lineage,  as 
in  their  manners  and  language,  entirely  different  from 
each  other.  There  is  no  part  of  the  world  where  inland 
navigation  is  parried  through  such  an  extent  of  coun- 
try as  in  Russia ;  it  being  possible  in  this  empire,  to 
convey  goods  by  water,  four  thousand  four  hundred  and 
seventy -tivo  miles,  from  the  frontiers  of  China  to  Pcf 


SABLE.  327 

burgh,  with  an  interruption  of  only  sixty-six  miles  5  and 
from  Astracan  to  the  same  capital,  through  a  space  of 
one  thousand  four  hundred  and  thirty-four  miles;  a  tract 
'  of  inland  navigation  almost  equal  to  one  fourth  of  the 
circumference  of  the  earth.  Russia  is  more  than  twice 
as  large  as  all  Europe.— Tooke,  Philips,  Carr.  Russia 
contains  a  population  of  forty  six  millions 5  of  which 
forty -three  millions  are  in  European  Russia.  It  has  an 
annual  revenue  of  fifteen  millions  sterling,  with  provis- 
ions cheap  and  taxes  light.  Its  military  force,  including 
such  a  select  body  of  militia,  as,  since  the  year  1806, 
has  been  kept  in  constant  readiness  to  take  the  field,  is 
about  eleven  hundred  thousand.  In  Tooke's  history  of 
Russia,  or  rather  of  the  reign  of  Catharine  II.  it  is  stat- 
ed that,  according  to  the  census  taken  at  several  times> 
the  increase  of  the  population  of  Russia  appeared  to  be 
as  follows  :  In  the  year  1722,  fourteen  millions;  1742 
sixteen  millions^;  1762,  twenty  millions  ;  1782,  twenty- 
eight  millions  ;  1788,  thirty  millions.  So  that  it  seems 
the  population  of  Russia  has  more  than  trebled  in  ninety 
years,  and  has  increased  by  more  than  one  third  in  the 
last  twenty-tour  years.  In  the  ratio  of  the  increase  of 
the  population  of  Russia  in  the  last  twenty-four  years, 
it  will  amount  to  a  hundred  millions  in  a  little  more 
than  half  a  century  hence. 


i5  ABLE,  a  small  animal,  valuable  for  its  fur.  About 
the  beginning  of  October,  the  Chinese  Tartars  take 
their  departure  to  hunt  sables,  clad  in  short  close  gar- 
ments of  wolf  skins  ;  their  heads  are  covered  with  caps 
of  the  same,  and  their  bows  are  suspended  at  their  backs. 
They  take  with  them  several  horses  loaded  with  sacks 
of  millet  and  their  long  cloaks  made  of  foxes'  or  tigers' 
skins,  with  which  they  defend  themselves  from  the  cold 
during  the  night.  The  sable  skins  of  this  country  are 
valuable  ;  but  the  obtaining  them  exposes  the  hunters 
to  extreme  dangers  and  fatigues.  The  most  beautiful 
skins  are  put  apart  for  the  emperor  ;  the  rest  are  sold 


328       SAHARA— SALMON— SALMON  TROUT. 

high,  even  in  the  country,  being  immediately  bought  up 
by  the  Mandarins  and  merchants. — Winterbotham* 

SAHARA,  called  the  Great  Desart,  an  ocean  of  sand* 
in  Africa,  presenting  a  surface  equal  in  extent  to  about 
one  half  Europe.  The  great  body,  or  western  division 
of  this  sand  ocean,  comprised  between  Fezzan  and  the 
Atlantic,  is  from  north  to  south,  from  seven  hundred 
and  fifty  to  eight  hundred  miles,  and  double  that  extent 
in  length.  It  is  without  doubt  the  largest  desart  in  the 
world  :  it  abounds  with  salt-mines,  whence  the  neigh- 
boring nations  are  supplied  with  salt.  On  the  edge  of 
this  great  desart,  wells  are  dug  to  an  amazing  depth,  and 
water  mixed  with  fine  sand,  springs  up  suddenly,  and 
sometimes  fatally  to  the  workmen.  The  people  call 
this  abyss  of  sand  and  water,  the  sea  below  ground. -Park. 

SALMON,  a  fish  of  superior  quality.  These  fish 
are  chiefly  found  in  high  northern  latitudes;  they  are 
plenty  in  the  north-easterly  parts  of  Massachusetts,  and 
particularly  in  the  district  of  Maine  ;  but  are  now  found 
in  no  river"  of  the  United  States,  whose  mouth  is  south- 
wardly of  that  of  Connecticut  river.  Indeed  we  are 
told  that  when  Captain  Henry  Hudson  first  discovered 
the  river  in  New -York  that  bears  his  name,  he  found  in 
it  a  plenty  of  salmon  ;  but  it  must  have  been  a  long 
time  since  these  fish  made  their  last  visit  to  the  waters 
of  the  Hudson.  In  the  rivers  of  Kampschatka,  as  relat- 
ed in  Cooke's  voyages,  their  numbers  are  immense,  and 
they  swim  with  such  velocity  that  the  water  is  greatly 
agitated  with  their  motion.  Three  feet  and  an  half  is 
their  usual  length  in  those  rivers,  and  they  are  more 


than  proportionably  deep  ;  their  average  weight  being 
from  thirty  to  forty  pounds.  It  is  credibly  reported  that 
salmon,  in  ascending  rivers,  will  leap  to  the  top  of  catar- 
acts of  several  feet  in  height ;  a  circumstance  in  which 
they  exceed  perhaps  every  other  fish  that  swims. 

SALMON  TROUT,  a  fish  that  in  its  form,  dimen- 
sions, and  appearance,  very  much  resembles  the  sal- 
mon; but  the  meat  is  of  a  finer  grain,  and  of  a  more 
delicate  taste  and  flavor.  This  trout  is  found  in  lake 
Champlain,  and  in  the  rivers  and  ponds  which  are  con- 


SALT  MINES— SAMIEL— SANDWICH   ISLANDS.    329 

nected  with  it.  They  are  taken  with  the  hook  and  line  5 
and  are  commonly  from  seven  to  ten  pounds  weight. 
Some  have  been  taken  which  weighed  twenty -five 
pounds  5  others  have  been  seen  leaping  out  of  the  wa- 
ter, which  the  fishermen  supposed  would  weigh  from 
thirty-five  to  forty  pounds.— Williams. 

SALT  MINES.  In  Hungary  there  is  a  mine  of  salt- 
rock  that  has  been  worked  for  six  hundred  years  past, 
and  is  dug  to  the  depth  of  743  feet.  But  the  salt  mines 
in  Poland,  near  the  city  of  Cracow,  are  more  extraordi- 
nary. These  are  wonclerful  caverns,  several  hundred 
yarcls  deep,  at  the  bottom  of  which,  are  several  intricate 
windings  and  labyrinths ;  and  on  one  side  of  the  mine 
is  a  stream  of  salt  water,  and  on  the  other,  one  of  fresh. 
The  bottom  of  these  mines  is  a  spacious  plain,  scooped 
out  of  the  vast  bed  of  salt,  which  is  all  a  hard  rock,  as 
bright  and  glittering  as  crystal,  and  tinged  with  all  the 
colours  of  precious  stones,  as  blue,  yellow,  purple  and 
green.  Many  lights  are  constantly  burning ;  and  the 
blaze  of  these,  reflected  from  every  part  of  the  mine, 
gives  a  more  glittering  prospect  than  any  thing  above 
ground  can  exhibit.  Here  is  a  kind  of  subterraneous 
republic,  of  men,  women,  and  children,  with  houses, 
villages,  roads,  horses,  and  carriages.  Many  hundreds 
of  people  are  born  and  live  all  their  lives  here  ;  never 
seeing  the  sun,  nor  any  object  above  ground. — Morse. 

SAMIEL,  hot  and  suffocating  winds  of  Asia:  they 
are  most  dangerous  between  twelve  and  three  o'clock, 
when  the  atmosphere  is  at  its  greatest  degree  of  heat. 
Their  force  entirely  depends  on  the  surface  over  which 
they  pass.  If  it  be  over  a  desart  where  there  is  no  vege- 
tation they  extend  their  dimensions  with  amazing  ve- 
locity, and  then  their  progress  is  sometimes  to  wind- 
ward. If  over  grass,  or  any  other  vegetation,  they  soon 
diminish  and  lose  much  of  their  force.  If  over  water, 
they  lose  all  their  electrical  fire,  and  ascend.—- Jac&son, 

SANDWICH  ISLANDS,  a  cluster  of  islands,  situ- 
ated in  the  Pacific  Ocean,  about  the  21st  and  22d  de- 
grees of  north  latitude.     The  natives  of  these  islands 
are  remarkable  for  an  astonishing  expertness  in  swini- 
D  d  £ 


330  SANSCRIT—SARACENS. 


51  OTIS 


ming.  They  leave  their  canoes  on  the  most  frivolom 
occasions,  dive  under  them,  and  swim  to  others,  though 
at  a  considerable  distance.  Women,  with  infants  at 
their  breasts,  when  the  surf  is  so  high  as  to  prevent 
their  landing  in  the  canoes,  are  frequently  seen  to  leap 
overboard  and  swim  to  the  shore,  without  endangering 
their  infants. — Cookers  Voyages. 

SANSCRIT,  the  ancient  and  sacred  language  of 
Hindostan ;  understood,  formerly,  only  by  a  few  of  the 
most  learned  among  themselves  ;  butf  latterly,  acquired 
and  translated  by  Mr.  Wilkins,  and  Sir  William  Jones. 
"  The  Sanscrit  language,  (says  Sir  William  Jones)  what- 
ever be  its  antiquity,  is  of  a  wonderful  structure  ;  more 
perfect  than  the  Greek,  more  copious  than  the  Latin, 
and  more  exquisitely  refined  than  either  ;  yet  bearing  to 
both  of  them  a  stronger  affinity,  both  in  the  roots  of 
verbs,  and  in  the  forms  of  grammar,  than  could  possibly 
have  been  produced  by  accident ;  so  strong,  indeed,  that 
no  philologer  could  examine  them  all,  without  believing^ 
them  to  have  sprung  from  some  common  source,  which, 
perhaps,  no  longer  exists." 

SARACENS,  a  people  celebrated  some  centuries 
ago,  who  came  from  the  desarts  of  Arabia.  They  pro- 
ceeded from  Ishrnael,  whose  descendants  have  been  the 
wildest  and  fiercest  race  of  men  ever  known  on  the  earth? 
and  have  lived  by  rapine  and  plunder  for  more  than  four 
thousand  years  :  thus  fulfilling  the  prediction  concern- 
ing Ishmael,  namely,  that  he  would  be  a  wild  man  ;  and 
lhat  his  hand  would  be  against  every  man,  and  every  man-s 
hand  against  him.  The  Ishmaelites  were  called  Arabi- 
ans, from  the  name  of  their  country,  and  Hagarenes  as 
descending  from  Hagar  5  some  say  that  they  called 
themselves  Saracens,  in  pretence  that  they  sprung  from 
Sarah,  Abraham's  wife ;  but  others  suppose  that  their 
name  originated  from  the  word  Sarra,  which  in  the  Ara- 
bic language  signifies  a  desart.  The  Saracens  were 
among  the  first  disciples  of  Mahomet;  and,  within  six- 
ty years  after  his  death,  conquered  a  great  part  of  Asia, 
Africa,  and  Europe.  They  maintained  a  war  in  Pales- 
tine a  long  time  against  the  western  Christians,  and,  at 
length,  drove  them  out  of  it.  To  this  people  the  Euro 


SARAN  A— SARD  AM—SATURN.         331 

peans  are  indebted  for  the  numerical  figures,  and  for 
several  discoveries  in  the  arts  and  sciences.  See  ARA- 
BIA. 

SARANA,  a  plant  that  grows  at  Kamptskatka,  and 
is  a  substitute  for  bread  in  that  dreary  country,  where 
no  grain  can  be  raised  ;  the  stem  grows  to  the  height  of 
about  five  inches,  and  has  a  bulbous  root  like  that  of 
garlic.  This  plant  grows  wild,  and  in  great  quantities  5 
and  about  the  beginning  of  August  the  Kampts  chad  ale 
women  are  employed  in  collecting  the  roots,  and  drying 
them.  The  root  of  the  Sarana,  when  roasted  in  embers, 
is  a  better  substitute  for  bread  than  any  thing  the  coun- 
try produces  ;  and  when  baken  in  an  oven  and  pounded, 
it  supplies  the  place  of  flour  and  meal,  and  is  mixed  in 
all  their  soups  and  in  many  of  their  other  dishes. — 
Cookers  Voyages. 

SARD  AM,  a  sea-port  town  of  Holland,  where  for- 
merly were  vast  magazines  of  timber  for  building  ships, 
and  a  prodigious  number  of  shipwrights.  Here  is  still 
seen  the  hut  in  which  Peter  the  Great,  Czar  of  Russia, 
resided,  while  he  worked  as  a  shipwright  in  this  town. 
This  wonderful  man,  about  the  beginning  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century,  left  his  throne  in  order  to  obtain  a  know- 
ledge of  the  useful  arts,  and  residing  at  Sardam,  he 
served  a  kind  of  apprenticeship  at  ship-building  ;  la- 
boring with  his  own  hands  in  the  ship-yard  like  a 
common  mechanic,  associating  with  the  workmen,  con- 
forming to  them  in  apparel,  and  partaking  of  their  fare, 

SATURN,  a  heathen  god.  As  the  god  of  time,  or 
rather  as  time  itself  personified,  Saturn  was  usually 
painted  by  the  heathens  holding  a  scythe  in  one  hand, 
and  in  the  other  a  snake  with  its  tail  in  its  mouth,  the 
symbol  of  perpetual  cycles  and  revolutions  of  ages :  he 
was  often  represented  in  the  act  of  devouring  years,  in 
the  form  ot  children,  and  sometimes,  encircled  by  the 
seasons  appearing  like  boys  and  girls. — Sir  W.  Jones. 

SATURN,  a  primary  planet,  which  was  reckoned  the 
most  remote  from  the  sun  of  all  the  planets  in  our  sys- 
tem, before  the  discovery  of  the  planet  HerschelL  It 


332         SAVANNAH  CRANE— SCHEIK. 

shines  but  with  a  pale  and  feeble  light.  Its  diameter  is 
seventy-nine  thousand  and  forty-two  miles  ;  its  distance 
from  the  sun  nine  hundred  million  miles,  and  its  pe- 
riodic revolution  in  its  orbit  is  performed  in  about 
twenty-nine  years  and  one  hundred  and  sixty-seven 
days  :  all  this  space  of  time  making  only  a  year  tat 
that  planet.  Saturn  has  seven  satellites  or  moons  ; 
and  is  also  surrounded  by  a  broad  flat  ring.  We  are 
told  by  astronomers  that  the  \vidth  of  this  rin°;  is  about 
twenty-five  thousand  miles  ;  forming  around  the  planet 
a  beautiful  arch,  which  may  be  designed,  among  other 
purposes,  to  increase  its  light  and  heat,  by  reflecting 
upon  it,  like  a  concave  mirror,  the  sun's  rays  ;  of  which, 
by  reason  of  its  great  distance  from  the  sun,  it  would 
not  otherwise  have  had  a  sufficient  quantity. — Bowdoin, 
Bowditch. 

SAVANNAH  CRANE,  a  stately  bird  common  in 
Georgia  and  the  Floridas.  It  is  about  six  feet  in  length 
from  the  toes  to  the  extremity  of  the  beak  when  ex- 
tended, and  the  win^s  expand  eight  or  nine  feet.  They 
are  above  five  feet  high  when  standing  erect ;  the  beak 
is  very  long,  straight,  and  sharp-poinfed  ;  the  crown  of 
the  head  bare  of  feathers,  of  a  reddish  rose  colour;  the 
legs  and  thighs  are  very  long,  and  bare  of  feathers  a 
great  space  above  the  knees  ;  and  the  plumage  is  of  a 
pale  ash  colour,  with  shades  of  pale  brown  and  sky 
blue.  When  these  birds  move  their  wings  in  flight, 
their  strokes  are  slow  and  regular,  and  even  when  at  a 
considerable  distance  in  the  air,  the  creaking  of  the 
shafts  and  web  of  their  pin  feathers  upon  one  another, 
is  plainly  heard. — Bartram. 

SCHEIK,  or  Old  Mm  of  the  Mountain,  the  chief  of 
ii  most  formidable  tribe  of  assassins,  who  had  their  re- 
sidence on  Mount  Lebanon,  between  Antioch  and  Da- 
mascus. In  the  Kast  the  name  Sclieik  was  given  to 
this  monarch  ;  but  the  Europeans  generally  called  him. 
the  Old  Man  of  the  Mountain.  The  first  chief  of  this 
remarkable  clan,  was  Hassan  Sabah,  a  subtle  impostor, 
who  by  his  artifices  made  fanatical  and  most  obedient 
slaves  of  his  subjects.  Their  religion  was  compounded 
of  that  of  the  magi,  the  Jews,  the  Christians,  and  the 


SCORPION.  333 

Mahometans  ;  and  the  capital  article  of  their  creed  was, 
that  the  Holy  Ghost  resided  in  their  chief,  and  that  all 
his  orders  proceeded  from  God  himself  ;  implicit  obe- 
dience to  which  would  insure  to  them  the  joys  of  para- 
dise. Accordingly  they  were  accustomed  to  prostrate 
themselves  at  the  foot  of  his  throne,  and,  at  his  com- 
mand, would  stab  themselves,  or  throw  themselves 
headlong  down  frightful  precipices  ;  not  only  without 
murmuring,  but  with  the  utmost  alacrity  ana  satisfac- 
tion. Some  of  his  subjects  had  learned  every  language, 
and  could  conform  themselves  to  the  manners  of  every 
nation  ;  and  thus  prepared  they  were  sent  abroad  in 
disguise,  to  the  courts  of  princes,  not  only  through 
Asia  and  Africa,  but  also  in  Europe.  Any  prince  that 
had  refused  tribute  to  the  Scheik,  or  in  any  wise  offend- 
ed him,  was  in  danger  every  moment  of  receiving  death 
at  the  hands  of  his  assassins.  Philip  Augustus.  King  of 
France,  on  being  told  that  the  Old  Man  of  the  Mountain 
intended  to  have  him  assassinated  ;  he  immediately  in- 
stituted a  new  body  guard,  and  never  appeared  without 
a  club  fortified  either  with  iron  or  gold.  The  Scheik, 
darting  abroad  his  thunderbolts  from  the  summit  of 
Mount  Lebanon,  and  sending  death  to  monarchs  and 
noblemen  who  offended  him,  held  the  world  in  terror, 
for  more  than  a  century  ;  most  sovereigns  paid  him  a 
private  tribute  ;  and  all  beheld  him  with  dread  and  dis- 
may. The  Mogul  Tartars  overthrew  and  completely 
conquered  this  tribe  of  assassins,  in  the  year 


SCORPION,  one  of  the  largest  animals  of  the  insect 
tribe,  arid  not  less  terrible  from  its  size  than  from  its 
malignity.  It  resembles  a  lobster  somewhat  in  shape, 
but  is  infinitely  more  hideous.  The  tail  is  armed  with 
a  crooked  sting  ;  that  being  the  fatal  instrument  which 
renders  this  insect  so  formidable  :  it  is  long,  pointed, 
hard  and  hollow  ;  it  is  pierced  near  the  base  by  two 
small  holes,  through  which,  when  the  animal  stings,  it 
ejects  a  drop  of  poison,  which  is  white,  caustic,  and 
fatal,  in  some  countries.  It  is  the  more  dangerous,  as 
it  has  a  propensity  to  shelter  itself  in  houses,  hiding 
among  the  furniture.  In  some  of  the  towns  of  Italy, 
and  in  France,  in  the  province  of  Languedoc,  it  is  one 
of  the  greatest  pests  that  torment  mankind  $  but  its 


$34  SCOTLAND— SEA-APE. 

malignity  in  Europe  is  trifling,  when  compared  to  what 
the  natives  of  Africa,  and  the  East,  are  known  to  suffer. 
In  Batavia,  where  they  grow  twelve  inches  long,  there 
is  no  removing  any  piece  of  furniture,  without  the  ut- 
most danger  of  being  stung  by  them.  In  Europe  the 
general  size  of  this  animal  does  not  exceed  two  or 
three  inches  ;  and  its  sting  is  seldom  found  to  be  mor- 
tal ;  though  said  to  be  inevitably  mortal  along  the  gold 
coast  in  Africa. — Goldsmith. 

SCOTLAND,  or  North  Britain,  the  most  northern 
of  the  two  kingdoms  into  which  the  island  of  Great 
.Britain  was  formerly  divided.  It  is  bounded  on  all  sides 
by  the  sea,  except  towa'rds  the  south  and  south-east, 
where  it  is  joined  to  England.  It  lies  between  54°  and 
59°  north  latitude ;  and  extends  from  north  to  south 
about  tvvtf-  hundred  and  seventy  miles  in  length,  and 
from  east  to  west  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  in  some 
parts,  but  in  others  only  thirty.  The  northern  extremi- 
ty of  Scotland  is  in  the  same  latitude  with  some  parts 
of  Norway  ;  but,  by  reason  of  its  insular  situation,  is 

J*Cv  vCr  IHMSIJOCIJ  ^invi  •    tnc.  ffwuiiJCMi  uivi^i'jii  ims  a  gr82fS 

resemblance  to  England,  both  with  respect  to  the  gene- 
ral aspect  of  the  country  and  to  the  progress  of  culti- 
vation. The  Scots  are  distinguished  for  a  love  of 
literature,  a  spirit  of  enterprise,  and  a  strong  attach- 
ment to  their  country :  though  they  frequently  emigrate 
for  the  sake  of  improving  their  circumstances,  yet  they 
seldom  lose  their  partiality  for  their  native  land.  Scot- 
land was  an  independent  kingdom  till  the  year  1603  ; 
when  the  crowns  of  England  and  Scotland  were  united 
in  the  person  of  James  Stuart,  called  James  I. 

SEA-APE,  a  marine  animal,  called  by  this  name  by 
Steller,  on  account  of  its  monkey  tricks  :  it  has  been 
noticed  on  the  western  coasts  of  America.  The  head 
resembles  that  of  a  dog,  with  sharp  and  upright  ears, 
and  large  eyes.  The  tail  is  forked ;  the  body  round, 
and  covered  with  thick  hair,  grey  on  the  back,  reddish 
on  the  beliy.  The  one  described  by  Steller,  sometimes 
swam  on  one  side,  sometimes  on  the  other  side  of  the 
ship,  and  gazed  at  it  with  great  admiration.  It  would 
often  stand  erect  for  a  considerable  space,  with  one 
third  of  its  body  above  water;  then  dart  beneath  the 


SEA-HORSE— SEA-OTTER—SEAL.       335 

»hip,  and  appear  on  the  other  side  ;  and  repeat  the  same 
thirty  times  together.  It  would  frequently  arise  with  a 
sea  plant,  toss  it  up  and  catch  it  in  its  mouth,  playing 
with  it  numberless  fantastic  tricks. — Encyc. 

SEA-HORSE,  an  animal  common  on  the  coasts  of 
the  Frozen  Ocean.  It  somewhat  resembles  a  seal  ;  but 
is  incomparably  larger  ;  weighing  eight  or  nine  hund- 
red pounds.  Its  tusks  are  very  large,  and  it  some- 
times attacks,  and  fights  with  great  fury  ;  it  roars  with 
a  very  loud  voice.  They  lie  upon  the  ice  in  herds  of 
many  hundreds,  huddling  like  swine, oi.e  over  another; 
yet  the  whole  herd  is  never  found  sleeping  ;  some  of 
them  being  constantly  on  the  watch.  When  fired  at 
they  plunge  into  the  sea,  one  over  the  other,  in  the 
utmost  confusion.  The  female  will  defend  her  young 
one  to  the  very  last,  and  at  the  expense  of  her  own  life, 
whether  upon  the  ice  or  in  the  water.  Nor  will  the 
young  one  quit  the  dam,  even  after  she  has  been  killed  ; 
so  that,  if  you  destroy  one?  you  are  sure  of  the  other. 
The  dam,  when  in  the  water,  holds  her  young  one  be- 
tween her  fore  fins. — Cookers  Voyages. 

SEA-OTTER,  an  animal  of  the  fur  kind,  found  at 
Nootka  Sound,  on  the  north-west  coast  of  North  Ameri- 
ca. They  are  of  various  colours  ;  changing  their  colour 
as  is  most  probable^  at  the  different  gradations  or  peri- 
ods of  life.  Some  of  them  are  of  a  glossy  black,  with 
a  part  of  the  hair  tipt  with  white  ;  some  are  of  a  deep 
brown  ;  some  of  a  chesnut  brown ;  and  some  of  a  perfect 
yellow.  The  fur  of  these  creatures  is  finer  than  that  of 
any  other  animal  in  the  known  world.  Some  of  the 
best  skins  have  been  sold  in  China  for  one  hundred  and 
twenty  dollars  each. — Cookers  Voyages. 

SEAL,  an  amphibious  animal,  found  in  vast  numbers 
on  the  coasts  in  some  northern  climates,  and  feeds  on 
fish.  The  seal,  in  general,  resembles  a  quadruped  in 
some  respects,  and  a  fish  in  others.  The  head  is  round, 
like  that  of  a  man ;  the  nose  broad  like  that  of  the 
otter;  the  teeth  like  those  of  a  dog  ;  the  eyes  are  large 
and  sparkling  ;  the  body  is  thickest  where  the  neck  is 
joined  to  it ;  thence  the  animal  tapers  down  to  the  tail 


556  SEDGEMOOR. 

like  a  fish  :  and  the  feet  resemble  fins.  The  whole 
body  is  covered  with  a  thick  bristly  shining  hair,  which 
looks  as  if  it  were  entirely  rubbed  over  with  oil.  In 
their  colours,  some  are  black,  others  spotted,  some 
white,  and  many  are  yellow.  On  some  northern  shores, 
they  are  seen  by  thousands,  like  flocks  of  sheep,  bask- 
ing on  the  rocks,  and  suckling  their  young  :  when 
alarmed,  they  instantly  plunge  all  together  into  the 
water.  They  delight  in  tempests  :  amidst  the  fury  of 
the  elements  they  are  seen  in  multitudes  sporting  along 
the  shore,  seemingly  pleased  with  the  universal  disor- 
der. The  seal  is  taken  for  the  sake  of  its  skin,  and  for 
the  oil  its  fat  yields. — Goldsmith. 

SEDGEMOOR,  a  place  in  England,  near  the  river 
Severn,  famous  for  the  battle  fought,  July  5,  1685,  be- 
tween the  army  of  James  II.  and  that  of  the  Duke  of 
Monmouth,  natural  son  of  Charles  II.  ;  who  claimed  the 
crown  of  England,  but  was  defeated  and  beheaded. 
After  the  defeat  of  Monmouth,  the  military  executions 
of  Colonel  Kirk,  an  officer  in  King  James's  army,  were 
attended  with  circumstances  of  most  wanton  cruelty 
and  barbarity.  On  his  first  entry  into  Bridge-water,  a 
town  that  lies  near  Sedgemoor,  he  not  only  hanged 
nineteen  prisoners  without  the  least  inquiry  into  the 
nature  of  their  guilt :  but  ordered  a  certain  number  to 
be  executed  while  he  and  his  company  should  drink 
the  king's  health  ;  and  observing  their  feet  to  quiver  in 
the  agonies  of  death,  he  commanded  the  drums  to  beat 
and  tlie  trumpets  to  sound,  saying  he  would  give  them 
music  to  their  dancing.  One  story,  commonly  told  of 
Kirk,  is  memorable  in  the  history  'of  human  treachery 
and  barbarity.  A  beautiful  young  girl,  bathed  in  tears, 
threw  herself  at  his  feet,  and  pleaded  for  the  life  of  her 
brother.  The  brutal  tyrant,  inflamed  with  desire,  but 
not  softened  into  pity,  promised  to  grant  her  request, 
provided  she  would  yield  to  his  wishes.  She  reluc- 
tantly complied  with  the  base  demand ;  and  after 
passing  the  ni»-ht  with  him,  the  monster  shewed  her  in 
the  morning,  from  the  bed-room  window,  that  beloved 
brother  for  whom  she  had  sacrificed  her  honor,  hanging 
on  a  gibbet,  which  he  had  secretly  ordered  to  be  erect- 
ed for  the  purpose !  Rage  and  despair  took  at  once 


SEGO—SENEGAL—-  SENNAR.  357 

possession  of  her  soul,  and  deprived  her  forever  of 
her  senses. — Russell. 

SEGO,  the  capital  of  the  negro  kingdom  of  Bam- 
barra.  It  consists  of  four  distinct  towns,  two  on  the 
northern  banks  of  the  Niger,  and  two  on  its  southern 
banks.  They  are  all  surrounded  with  high  mud  walls ; 
the  houses  are  of  clay,  of  a  square  form,  with  flat  roofs  ; 
some  are  two  stories  high,  and  many  are  whitewashed. 
Sego,  which  is  the  constant  residence  of  the  king  of 
Bambarra,  is  supposed  to  contain  about  thirty  thousand 
people.  The  Niger,  on  which  it  stands,  is  a  considera- 
ble large  river  of  Africa,  which  runs  towards  the  rising 
sun,  and  annually  overflows  its  banks,  fertilizing  the 
adjacent  country. — Park. 


SENEGAL,  a  majestic  river  of  Negroland,  which 
empties  into  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  It  annually  overflows 
like  the  Nile.  On  its  beautiful  banks,  where  the  lion 
and  the  elephant  are  seen  roaming,  flowering  shrubs 
perfume  the  air,  and  the  songs  of  innumerable  birds 
charm  the  ear.  This  river  was  once  explored  by  a 
number  of  Frenchmen,  to  the  distance  of  one  thousand 
miles  ;  they  underwent  such  hardships,  that,  of  thirty 
men,  only  five  returned  alive.— Park. 

SENNAR,  or  Nubia,  a  kingdom  of  Africa ;  border- 
ing on  Egypt  and  the  Red  Sea;  extending;  about  nine- 
hundred  miles  in  length,  and  six  hundred  in  breadth. 
It  produces  great  quantities  of  gold,  and  supplies  Egypt 
with  slaves.  The  children  are  quite  naked ;  and  the 
grown  people,  except  the  higher  class,  have  only  a 
wrapper  of  linen  cloth  about  their  bodies.  Their 
houses  have  low  mud  walls,  which  are  liable  to  be  de- 
molished by  a  heavy  shower  of  rain ;  but  it  seldom 
rains  in  this  country.  Here  the  clouds  of  sand,  raised 
by  the  wind,  sometimes  overwhelm  travellers,  and  even 
whole  caravans  :  here  too  there  is  frequently  experi- 
enced that  insupportable  wind,  called  Simoon.  Volney 
says  that  this  wind  may  be  compared  to  the  heat  of  a 
large  oven  at  the  moment  of  drawing  out  the  bread  ; 
and  that  when  it  blows,  the  sun  loses  his  splendor,  and 
appears  of  a  violet  colour.  The  capital  of  this  king- 
Ee 


338      SENSITIVE  PLANT—SERPE  NERA. 

dom,  which  is  also  called  Sennar,  lies  on  the  banks  of 
the  Nile,  between  Egypt  and  Abyssinia :  it  is  five 
miles  in  circumference,  and  very  populous,  containing 
near  a  hundred  thousand  inhabitants. 

SENSITIVE  PLANT,  a  remarkable  plant  that 
shrinks  at  the  touch.  Naturalists  have  not  explained 
the  cause  of  the  collapsing  of  the  sensitive  plant.  The 
leaves  meet  and  close  in  the  night,  or  when  exposed  to 
much  cold  in  the  day -time,  in  the  same  manner  as  when 
they  are  aftected  by  external  violence ;  folding  their 
upper  surfaces  together,  and  in  part  over  each  other, 
like  scales  or  tiles,  so  as  to  expose  as  little  of  the  up- 
per surface  as  may  be  to  the  air.  Another  plant  that 
seems  to  be  endowed  with  a  degree  of  sensation  is  the 
Sun-Flower,  which  follows  the  course  of  the  sun  by 
nutation,  not  by  twisting  its  stem. — Damvin. 

SERPE  NERA,  a  snake  common  in  Italy,  which  is 
so  fond  of  milk  as  to  make  its  way  into  the  dairies,  and 
even  suck  the  cows  ;  twining  round  their  legs,  and 
spunging  their  teats  with  such  avidity  as  to  draw  blood 
Avhen  their  milk  is  exhausted.  Dr.  Gabriel  Ansel  mi, 
professor  of  anatomy  at  Turin,  gives  us  the  following 
account  of  a  fact  of  this  nature,  of  which  he  was  an 
eye-witness.  "  Walking,  according  to  custom,  (says 
he)  one  morning,  on  the  road  called  the  Park,  bordered 
by  pastures,  containing  a  great  number  of  sheep  and 
horned  cattle,  I  observed  an  old  but  vigorous  cow, 
separate  froAi  the  others,  and  lowing,  with  her  head 
raised  in  the  air,  her  ears  erect,  and  shaking  her  tail. 
After  going  into  a  pond  to  drink,  she  came  out,  and 
waited  on  the  brink  for  a  black  snake,  which  crept 
from  among  the  bushes,  and  approaching  her,  entwined 
himself  round  her  legs,  and  began  to  suck  her  milk.  I 
observed  this  phenomenon  two  successive  days  without 
informing  the  herdsman.  The  third  day  I  acquainted 
him  with  it,  and  he  told  me  that  for  some  time  the  cow 
had  kicked  at  the  approach  of  her  calf,  and  that  she 
could  not  without  difficulty,  be  compelled  to  suffer  it 
to  suck.  We  took  away  the  snake,  which  we  killed. 
On  the  succeeding  day  the  cow,  after  having  in  vain 
waited  for  her  suckling,  ran  about  the  meadow  in 


SHARK— SHEA  TREE.  359 

such  a  manner  that  the  herdsman  was  obliged  to  shut 
her  up." 

SHARK,  the  leviathan  of  the  deep.  He  is  some- 
times found  from  twenty  to  thirty  feet  long  :  the  head 
is  large  and  somewhat  flatted  ;  the  snout  long,  and  he 
has  great  goggle  eyes.  The  mouth  is  enormously 
wide  ;  as  is  the  throat,  which  is  capable  of  swallowing 
a  man  with  great  ease.  He  has  a  horrible  furniture  of 
teeth,  consisting  of  six  rows,  extremely  hard,  sharp- 
pointed,  and  of  a  wedge-like  figure  ;  so  that  the  animal 
he  seizes  dies,  pierced  with  a  hundred  wounds  in  a 
moment.  No  fish  can  swim  so  fast  as  he.  Such  is  his. 
swiftness,  and  so  insatiable  his  cruelty,  that  if  he  could 
seize  his  prey  instantly,  and  had  also  clearness  of  sight, 
he  would  quickly  destroy  almost  all  creatures  in  the 
ocean  ;  but  to  prevent  his  making  universal  destruction, 
his  upper  jaw  is  so  formed  that  he  is  obliged  to  turn  on 
one  side  to  seize  his  prey ;  and  while  he  is  doing  this, 
the  animal  he  pursues  flies  from  him  and  often  escapes. 
The  shark  is  a  fish  so  voracious,  that  he  will  not  only 
devour  his  own  species,  when  pressed  by  hunger,  but 
he  swallows,  without  distinction,  every  thing  that  drops 
from  a  ship  into  the  sea,  cordage,  cloth,  pitch,  wood, 
iron,  nay,  even  knives.  It  is  nevertheless  well  known, 
that,  however  urged  by  famine,  he  never  touches  a 
kind  of  small  fish,  speckled  with  yellow  and  black, 
called  the  pilot  fish,  which  swims  just  before  his 
snout,  to  guide  him  to  his  prey,  which  he  cannot  see 
till  he  is  close  to  it;  for  nature,  as  a  counterbalance  to 
his  ferocity,  has  rendered  him  almost  blind. — Goldsmith, 
St.  Pierre. 

SHEA  TREE,  a  tree  of  Africa,  from  the  fruit  of 
which  they  make  vegetable,  butter.  These  trees  grow 
in  great  abundance  in  the  kingdom  of  Bambarra.  The 
tree  itself  very  much  resembles  the  American  oak,  and 
the  fruit,  from  the  kernel  of  which  the  butter  is  pre- 
pared, has  somewhat  the  appearance  of  a  Spanish  olive. 
The  kernel  is  contained  in  a  sweet  pulp  under  a  thin 
green  rind,  and  the  butter  produced  from  it,  besides 
the  advantage  of  its  keeping  the  whole  year  without 
salt,  is  whiter,  firmer,  and  of  a  richer  flavor,  than  the 


340  SHEPHERD— SHETLAND. 

best  butter  made  of  cow's  milk.  The  shean  butter 
constitutes  a  main  article  of  the  inland  commerce  of 
Africa. — Park. 

SHEPHERD,  a  feeder  of  sheep;  an  employment 
which,  in  the  early  ages  of  the  world  and  in  the  eastern 
countries,  was  followed  by  young  women  of  the  first 
families  as  well  as  men.  Goldsmith  tells  us,  that  in 
some  parts  of  the  Alps,  and  even  in  some  provinces  of 
France,  the  shepherd,  as  in  ancient  times,  leads  his 
flock  by  the  sound  of  his  pipe.  The  flock  is  regularly 
penned  every  evening,  to  preserve  them  from  the  wolf; 
and  the  shepherd  returns  homeward  at  sun-set,  with 
his  sheep  following  him,  and  seemingly  pleased  with 
the  sound  of  the  pipe,  which  is  blown  with  a  reed,  and 
resembles  the  chanter  of  the  bag -pipe.  There  are  two 
great  nations  of  shepherds  and  herdsmen  which  have 
subsisted  in  this  way  for  some  thousands  of  years,  and 
sometimes  have  poured  themselves  upon  other  coun- 
tries like  an  irresistible  torrent;  these  are  the  Tartars 
and  Arabs.  "  The  inhabitants  of  the  vastly  extensive 
plains  of  Scythia  or  Tartary,  have  been  frequently  uni- 
ted under  the  dominion  of  the  chief  of  some  conquer- 
ing horde  or  clan  ;  and  the  havoc  and  devastation  of 
Asia  have  always  signalized  their  union.  The  inhabi- 
tants of  the  inhospitable  desarts  of  Arabia,  the  other 
great  nation  of  shepherds,  have  never  been  united  but 
once,  namely,  under  Mahomet  and  his  immediate  suc- 
cessors; and  their  union  w;as  signalized  in  the  same 
manner.  If  the  hunting  nations  of  America  should 
ever  become  shepherds,  their  neighborhood  would  be 
much  more  dangerous  to  the  European  colonies  (and 
to  the  United  Stafes)  than  it  is  at  present."  The  reason 
is  obvious  :  an  army  of  hunters  can  keep  together  but 
a  few  days,  for  want  of  provisions;  but  an  army  of 
shepherds  and  herdsmen,  carrying  their  flocks  and 
herds  along  with  them,  have  always  the  means  of  sub- 
sistence at  hand  :  such  armies,  in  Asia,  are  said  to 
have  consisted,  sometimes,  of  two  or  three  hundred 
thousand. 

SHETLAND,    the  general  name   of    a  cluster  of 
islands  which  lie  north  of  Scotland.     In  the  Shetland 


SHINING  MOUNTAINS— SHIP- WORM.    341 

islands  the  Aurone  Boreales  are  very  remarkable. 
They  are  the  constant  attendants  of  clear  evenings, 
and  *  prove  great  reliefs  amid  the  gloom  of  the  long 
winter  nights.  They  commonly  appear  at  twilight 
near  the  horizon,  of  a  dun  colour,  approaching  to  yel- 
low :  sometimes  continuing  in  that  state  for  several 
hours,  without  any  apparent  motion  ;  after  which  they 
break  out  into  streams  of  stronger  light,  spreading  into 
columns,  and  altering  slowly  into  ten  thousand  different 
shapes,  varying  their  colours  from  all  the  tints  of  yel- 
low, to  the  most  obscure  russet.  They  often  cover  the 
whole  hemisphere,  and  then  make  a  most  brilliant 
appearance. — Walker. 

SHINING  MOUNTAINS,  a  part  of  a  range  of 
mountains,  beginning  at  Mexico,  and  continuing  north- 
ward, between  the  sources  of  the  Mississippi  and  the 
rivers  that  run -into  the  Pacific  Ocean,  and  ending  in 
about  47  or  48  degrees  of  north  latitude  :  they  are  cal- 
culated to  be  more  than  three  thousand  miles  in  length. 
Among  the  mountains  of  this  range,  those  that  lie  to 
the  west  of  the  river  St.  Pierre,  are  called  the  Shining 
Mountains,  from  an  infinite  number  of  crystal  stones,  of 
an  amazing  size,  with  which  they  are  covered,  and 
which,  when  the  sun  shines  full  upon  them,  sparkle 
so  as  to  be  seen  at  a  very  great  distance.  These 
mountains,  probably,  in  future  ages,  may  be  found  to 
contain  more  riches  in  their  bowels,  than  those  of 
Hindostan,  or  even  of  the  Peruvian  mines. — 'Carver. 

SHIP-WORM,  a  destructive  little  animal  that  has 
two  calcareous  jaws,  hemispherical,  flat  before,  and  an- 
gular behind.  The  shell  is  taper,  winding,  penetrat- 
ing ships,  and  submarine  wood.  These  insects  were 
brought  from  India  to  Europe :  they  bore  their  pas- 
sage in  the  direction  of  the  fibres  ot  the  wood,  which 
is  their  nourishment,  and  cannot  return  or  pass  ob- 
liquely, and  when  two  of  them  meet  together,  with 
their  stony  mouths,  they  perish  for  want  of  food.  In 
the  years  1731  and  1752,  the  United  Dutch  Provinces 
were  under  a  dreadful  alarm  concerning  these  insects, 
which  had  made  great  depredations  on  the  piles  which 
support  the  banks  of  Zealand ;  but  it  was  happily  dis- 


542  SIAM— SIBERIA, 

covered  a  few  years  afterwards,  that  these  insects  had 
totally  abandoned  that  island.  The  celebrated  Lin- 
nseus  saved  the  Swedish  navy  by  finding  out  the  time 
in  which  the  ship-worm  laid  its  eggs,  and  recommend- 
ing the  immersion  in  water  of  the  timber  of  which  the 
ships  were  to  be  built,  during  the  season  that  the  worms 
deposited  their  eggs. — Darwin,  American  Museum. 

SIAM,  a  kingdom  of  Asia,  bordering  on  the  bay  of 
Bengal ;  extending  eight  hundred  miles  in  length,  and 
from  two  hundred  to  three  hundred  and  fifty  in  breadth. 
It  is  a  flat  country,  which  in  the  rainy  season  is  over- 
flowed ;  insomuch  that  the  inhabitants  have  no  commu- 
nication for  some  months  but  by  means  of  boats.  The 
natives,  both  men  and  women,  go  almost  naked,  except 
the  wealthy,  who  wear  costly  garments.  The  king, 
\vho  is  the  proprietor  of  all  the  lands  in  the  country, 
keeps  a  numerous  army,  among  which  are  a  thousand 
elephants:  he  shows  himself  but  once  a  year  to  the 
common  people.  It  is  a  commercial  country  ;  but  no 
one  can  buy  any  kinds  of  merchandise  till  the  king  has 
had  his  choice  of  them.  The  women  are  the  only  mer- 
chants in  buying  goods ;  the  men  being  generally 
maintained  by  the  industry  of  their  wives.  It  is  ac* 
counted  a  great  honor  for  the  nobles  who  attend  the 
palace,  ladies  as  well  as  gentlemen,  to  be  whipt  on  their 
naked  backs  by  the  king  ;  and,  as  they  walk  the  streets,, 
they  strip  their  backs,  and  show  the  marks  of  the  rod 
with  no  small  degree  of  pride. — Walker. 

SIBERIA,  a  country  extending  two  thousand  miles 
in  length,  and  seven  hundred  and  fifty  in  breadth  ;  be- 
ing the  most  northern  part  of  the  Russian  empire  in 
Asia,  and  approaching  so  near  to  China,  that  the  Chi- 
nese merchants  frequently  attend  the  annual  fairs  in 
Siberia.  Thither  criminals,  and  persons  under  the  dis- 
pleasure of  the  court,  are  sent  into  banishment  from 
Russia.  Ledyard,  the  celebrated  American  traveller, 
gives  the  following  account  of  the  cold,  in  a  part  of 
Siberia:  "Mercury,  he  says,  freezes  in  the  thermome- 
ter, even  in  the  month  of  November.  The  atmosphere 
is  frozen  :  the  air  being  so  condensed  as  to  appear  like 
a  thick  fog.  Water  freezes  to  the  depth  of  sixty  feet 


SICILY— SIERRA  LEONE.  343 

from  the  surface  of  the  ground.  People  of  these  re- 
gions therefore  are  obliged  to  use  ice  and  snow,  and 
they  have  also  ice  windows.  Glass  is  of  no  use  to  the 
few  who  have  it,  the  difference  of  the  state  of  the  air, 
within  and  without,  is  so  great,  that  the  glass  is  covered 
withinside  with  several  inches  of  ice,  and  in  that  situa- 
tion is  less  luminous  than  ice.  The  timber  of  the  hous- 
es splits,  and  opens  with  loud  cracks  ;  the  rivers  thun- 
der and  open  with  broad  fissures  ;  all  nature  groans  be- 
neath the  rigorous  winter."  Providence  has  supplied 
a  warm  clothing  to  the  animals  of  this  country,  which 
abounds  with  excellent  furs;  by  means  whereof  the  in- 
habitants carry  on  a  commerce  with  China. 

SICILY,  an  island  of  the  Mediterranean  sea,  almost 
in  the  form  of  a  triangle ;  extending  one  hundred  and 
sixty  miles  in  length,  and  one  hundred  and  twelve  in 
breadth :  the  soil  is  the  most  excellent  in  the  known 
world.  The  finest  species  of  corn,  which  is  wheat, 
might  be  referred  to  Sicily,  where,  in  fact,  they  pretend 
it  was  originally  found.  Fable  has  immortalised  this 
discovery,  by  making  this  island  the  seat  of  the  amours 
of  Ceres,  the  goddess  of  harvest.  This  much  is  certain, 
that  corn  [or  wheat]  is  no  where  indigenous  but  in  Sici- 
ly, if,  however,  it  still  perpetuates  itself  there  spontane- 
ously, as  the  ancients  affirm  it  did.  This  island,  now 
weak,  was  once  exceedingly  powerful.  The  Carthage- 
nians,  several  centuries  before  the  Christian  era,  sent 
for  the  reduction  of  Sicily,  an  army  of  three  hundred 
thousand  men,  with  a  fleet  composed  of  two  thousand 
ships  of  war,  and  three  thousand  transports.  A  hun- 
dred and  fifty  thousand  of  this  army  the  Sicilians  killed 
in  battle,  and  took  all  the  rest  prisoners  ;  and  of  all  their 
ships  only  eight  escaped.— St.  Pierre,  Encyclopaedia. 

SIERRA  LEONE,  a  great  river  of  Africa,  in  the 
country  ot  Guinea:  its  mouth  is  in  latitude  8°  15"  north, 
and  is  eight  miles  wide.  In  1721,  an  act  of  the  British 
parliament  was  obtained  for  incorporating  a  company, 
called  the  Sierra  Leone  company,  for  the  express  pur- 
pose of  cultivating  West-India  and  other  tropical  pro- 
ductions on  the  banks  of  this  river,  on  land  purchased 
of  the  prince  of  the  country.  The  first  settlers  amount- 


344  SILK— SILK  INSECT. 

ed  to  about  two  hundred  white  persons,  besides  a  num- 
ber of  free  blacks  from  Nova- Scotia.  The  native  chiefs 
and  the  people  have  been  extremely  friendly;  and  the 
company's  schools  were  regularly  attended  by  upwards 
of  three  hundred  children,  who  appear  to  have  made  full 
as  much  improvement  as  is  common  in  European  schools 
under  similar  circumstances.  The  rice,  cotton  and  oth- 
er articles  in  the  company's  plantations  have  thriven 
exceedingly. — Walker. 

SILK,  a  fine  thread,  spun  by  a  worm.  Silk  was 
manufactured  from  time  immemorial,  in  China  and 
Ilindostan  ;  and  the  culture  of  this  article  was  introduc- 
ed into  Italy  many  centuries  past.  In  the  year  160Q, 
Henry  IV.  introduced  the  culture  and  the  manufacture 
of  silk  into  France.  During  the  bloody  persecution  of 
Louis  XIV.  of  France,  many  of  the  silk  manufacturers 
of  that  kingdom  fled,  and  took  refuge  in  England  : 
those  French  refugees  set  up  their  business  in  London, 
and  were  the  ancestors  of  the  Spitlelields  silk  weavers 
in  that  city.  In  the  year  1719,  Mr.  Lombe  erected  at 
Derby  in  England,  the  famous  silk-throwing  machine, 
which  contains  twenty-six  thousand  five  hundred  and 
eighty-six  wheels,  and  in  each  time  it  is  going  round, 
twists  seventy -three  thousand  seven  hundred  and  twen- 
ty-eight yards  of  silk. 

SILK-INSECT,  a  spinner  of  silk,  but  quite  a  differ- 
ent creature  from  the  silk-worm.  These  insects  resem- 
ble catterpillars,  and  are  found  in  great  numbers  on  the 
trees  and  in  the  fields  of  the  province  of  Chang- Tong, 
in  China.  They  are  reared  without  any  care,  and  they 
feed  indiscriminately  on  the  leaves  of  the  mulberry  and 
on  those  of  other  trees.  They  do  not  spin  their  silk, 
circularly  and  in  the  same  manner  as  common  silk- 
worms, which  form  theirs  in  balls  :  they  produce  it  in 
filaments,  or  long  threads,  which,  bein«;  carried  away 
by  the  winds,' are  caught  by  the  trees  and  bushes.  The 
Chinese  collect  these  threads,  and  make  a  kind  of  stuff 
of  them,  inferior  in  lustre  to  those  manufactured  of 
common  silk ;  yet  much  esteemed  in  China,  and  sold 
there  sometimes  for  more  than  the  richest  satin.  This 
stuff  is  closely  woven,  lasts  very  long,  washes  like  linen, 


SILK-WORM—  SILVER.  345 

and,  when  manufactured  with  care,  is  scarcely  suscepti- 
ble of  being  spotted  even  with  oil. — Winterbotham. 

SILK- WORM,  the  worm  whose  wonderful  labors 
supply  the  world  with  silk  :  it  is  a  native  of  China  and 
Hindostan.  This  worm  is  hatched  from  yellowish  eggs, 
the  size  of  which  is  rather  smaller  than  that  of  mustard 
seed ;  and  which  are  laid  by  a  species  of  white  moth, 
resembling  a  butterfly.  When  the  egg  is  hatched,  after 
being  exposed  to  a  warm  temperature  for  a  few  days, 
a  small  black  worm  bursts  forth,  which  is  very  eager  for 
food,  and  requires  to  be  supplied  with  the  most  tender 
mulberry  leaves.  These  will  be  greedily  eaten  for  about 
eight  days,  at  which  period  the  worm  is  seized  with  a 
lethargic  sleep,  for  three  days  ;  when  it  changes  its 
skin.  The  creature  now  begins  to  eat  again  for  five 
or  six  days,  till  it  becomes  subject  to  a  second  sickness 
or  sleep,  of  a  similar  duration.  In  about  thirty -two  or 
thirty- six  days,  the  silk- worm,  after  passing  through 
several  lethargic  stages,  attains  its  full  growth,  being 
from  one  to  two  inches  in  cool  climates  ;  in  warmer 
countries,  from  three  to  four  inches  in  length.  The 
cone  on  which  it  spins  is  formed  for  covering  it  while 
it  continues  in  the  aurelia  state ;  and  these  cones  pro- 
perly wound  off,  and  united  together,  form  strong  and 
beautiful  threads  of  silk.  It  has  been  thought  that  silk- 
worms were  not  brought  into  Europe  till  the  beginning 
of  the  twelfth  century;  when  Roger  of  Sicily,  brought 
workmen  in  this  manufacture  from  Asia  Minor,  after 
his  return  from  his  expedition  to  the  Holy  Land,  and 
settled  them  in  Sicily  and  Calabria. 

SILVER,  a  white,  shining  hard  metal,  next  in  price 
to  gold.  Its  proportional  value  to  that  of  gold  is  differ- 
ent in  different  countries.  In  Europe  the  proportion 
between  fine  silver  and  fine  gold,  according  to  Adam 
Smith,  is  as  fourteen  or  fifteen  to  one  ;  whereas  in  Chi- 
na, and  the  greater  part  of  the  markets  in  India,  it  is 
but  as  ten,  or  at  most  as  twelve  to  one.  Hence  it  is  that 
silver  is  sent  to  the  eastern  markets,  rather  than  gold. 
Thither  the  silver  mines  of  America  are  constantly- 
draining  off*,  nor  are  their  proceeds  at  present  more 
than  sufficient  to  supply  that  drain.  The  best  silver  mine 


346  SIMINOLES— SINAI. 

in  the  known  world,  is  in  a  mountain  near  Potosi,  a  town 
of  Peru  ;  by  reason  of  which,  silver  has  been  as  common 
in  that  town  as  iron  is  in  Europe.  The  mines  of  this 
mountain  were  accidentally  discovered  in  the  year  1545, 
in  the  following  manner :  An  Indian,  named  Hualpa,  one 
day  following  some  deer,  which  made  directly  up  the 
mountain,  he  came  to  a  steep  craggy  part  of  it,  and  to 
help  himself  in  climbing,  seized  hold  of  a  shrub,  which 
came  up  by  the  roots,  and  laid  open  a  mass  of  silver  ore. 
The  American  Museum  recommends  the  following 
method  for  burnishing  plate  and  other  silver  utensils. 
Dissolve  a  quantity  of  all um  in  water,  so  as  to  make  a 
strong  brine,  which  you  must  scum  very  carefully  ;  add 
some  soap  to  it,  and  when  you  wish  to  use  it,  dip  into  it 
a  linen  rag,  and  rub  it  over  your  silver  5  which  will  add 
much  to  its  lustre. 

SIMINOLES,  or  Lower  Creeks,  a  tribe  of  Indians 
inhabiting  East  and  West  Florida.  They  enjoy  a  super- 
abundance of  the  necessaries  of  life  ;  contented  and  un- 
disturbed, they  appear  as  blithe  and  free  as  the  birds  of 
the  air,  and  like  them  as  volatile  and  active,  tuneful  and 
vociferous.  The  visage,  action  and  deportment  of  a  Si- 
minole  is  the  most  striking  picture  of  happiness  in  this 
life.  Joy,  contentment,  love,  and  friendship  without 
guile  or  affectation,  seem  inherent  in  them,  or  predomi- 
nant in  their  vital  principle  ;  for  it  leaves  them  but  with 
the  last  breath  of  life.  On  one  hand,  you  see  among 
them  troops  of  boys  ;  some  fishing,  some  shooting  with 
the  bow,  some  enjoying  one  kind  of  diversion,  and  some 
another  :  on  the  other  hand  are  seen  bevies  of  girls, 
wandering  through  orange-groves  and  over  fields  and 
meadows,  gathering  flowers  and  berries  in  their  baskets, 
or  lolling  under  the  shades  of  flowery  trees,  or  chasing 
one  another  in  sport,  and  striving  to  paint  each  others 
faces  with  the  juice  of  their  berries. — Bartram. 

SINAI,  a  mountain,  or  range  of  mountains,  with  two 
remarkable  peaks,  the  one  peak  called  Sinai,  and  the 
other  lloreb'5  situated  in  Arabia,  on  the  peninsula,  form- 
ed by  the  two  arms  of  the  Red  Sea.  This  mountain  is 
celebrated  in  sacred  history,  and  is  revered  by  Chris- 
tians and  Jews,  and  even  by  Mahometans.  From  the 


SKIN— SKY-LARK.  34? 

top  of  Sinai  there  may  be  seen  the  valley  of  Raphidim, 
where  the  children  of  Israel  murmured  for  water,  and 
received  a  supply  from  the  flinty  rock ;  also  mount 
Nebo,  now  called  mount  Catharine,  where  Moses  died. 
There  is  a  small  plain  on  the  top  of  this  mountain, 
where  stand  a  Christian  church  and  a  Turkish  mosque  : 
the  winding  ascent  to  this  plain,  is  by  fourteen  thousand 
stone  steps. 

SKIN,  a  natural  covering  of  animal  bodies.  The 
skin  is  the  organ  of  touch  or  feeling  ;  it  is  lli€  channel 
of  perspiration,  the  principal  means  which  nature  em- 
ploys to  purify  the  fluids  ;  and  it  is  also  able  to  absorb 
certain  salutary  particles  of  the  surrounding  atmosphere. 
In  a  curious  and  entertaining  treatise  on  perspiration  is 
an  observation  of  the  eminent  Lewenhoek,  who  asserts, 
that  the  vessels  through  which  perspiration  is  perform- 
ed, are  so  inconceivably  small  that  the  mouths  of  a  vast 
multitude  of  them  might  be  covered  with  one  grain  of 
sand.  It  has  been  proved  by  exact  calculation,  that  the 
most  healthy  individual  daily  and  insensibly  perspires 
upwards  of  three  pounds  weight  of  superfluous  and  im- 
pure humors  ;  and  according  to  this  ratio,  in  a  city  con- 
taining a  hundred  thousand  persons,  there  would  daily 
ascend  fifteen  tons  of  mephitic  vanor,  merely  from  the 
pores  of  the  skin. —  Willich,  American  Museum. 

SKY-LARK,  a  bird  common  in  England,  loud  in  song, 
and  soaring  in  flight.  Nothing  can  be  more  pleasing 
than  to  see  the  lark  warbling  upon  the  wing  ;  raising  its 
note  as  it  soars,  until  it  seems  lost  in  the  immense 
heights  above ;  the  note  continuing,  the  bird  itself  un- 
seen ;  to  see  it  then  descending  with  a  swell  as  it  comes 
from  the  clouds,  yet  sinking  by  degrees  as  it  approach- 
es its  nest,  the  spot  where  all  its  affections  are  centered. 
The  lark  builds  its  nest  upon  the  ground,  and  it  is  while 
the  female  is  setting  that* the  male  thus  entertains  her 
with  his  singing;  and  while  he  is  risen  to  an  imper- 
ceptible height,  yet  he  still  has  his  beloved  partner  in 
his  eye,  nor  once  loses  sight  of  the  nest  either  while  he 
ascends  or  is  descending.  This  harmony  continues 
several  months,  beginning  early  in  the  spring  on  pair- 
ing.— Goldsmith. 


348  SLAVE-TRADE. 

SLAVE-TRADE,  a  pernicious  traffic  which  was 
begun  in  the  year,  1442,  when  Anthony  Gonsalez,  a 
Portuguese,  took  from  the  coast  of  Africa,  called  the 
Gold  Coast,  ten  negroes,  and  a  quantity  of  gold  dust, 
with  which  he  returned  to  Lisbon.  In  1481 ,  the  Portu- 
guese built  a  fort  on  the  Gold  Coast ;  and  so  early  as 
the  year  1502,  the  Spaniards  began  to  employ  a  few  ne- 

f-oes  in  the  mines  of  Hispaniola.  In  the  year  1517,  the 
mperor  Charles  V.  of  Spain,  granted  a  patent  to  cer- 
tain persons,  for  the  supply  of  four  thousand  negroes 
annually,  to  the  islands  of  Hispaniola,  Cuba,  Jamaica, 
and  Porto  Rico.  Of  the  English,  the  first  who  is  known 
to  have  been  concerned  in  this  commerce,  was  John 
Hawkins,  who  was  afterwards  knighted  by  Queen  Eliza- 
beth. He  got  into  his  possession,  partly  by  the  sword, 
and  partly  by  other  means,  three  hundred  negroes,  and 
sold  them  in  the-  West-Indies.  Hawkins's  second  voy- 
age was  patronized  by  Queen  Elizabeth,  who  partici- 
pated in  the  profits  :  and  in  1618,  in  the  reign  of  James 
I.  the  British  government  established  a  regular  trade  on 
the  coast  of  Africa.  In  the  year  1620,  negro  slaves  be- 
gan to  be  imported  into  Virginia:  a  Dutch  ship  bring- 
ing twenty  of  them  for  sale.  From  this  small  and  most 
unhappy  beginning,  the  United  States  are  now  loaded 
with  a  black  population  of  almost  a  million.  -The  total 
import  of  negro  slaves  into  all  the  British  colonies  of 
America  and  the  West-Indies,  in  a  little  more  than  one 
century,  that  is,  from  1680  to  1786,  may  be  put  at  two 
million  one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand.  A  celebrated 
French  writer,  about  thirty  or  forty  years  ago,  stated  the 
total  exportation  from  Africa,  since  the  beginning  of  the 
slave-trade,  at  nine  million  of  slaves.  A  large  propor- 
tion, sometimes  one  third  of  those  wretched  beings, 
have  died  in  the  passage  and  in  what  is  called  the  sea- 
soning, after  their  arrival.  Among  the  numerous  instan- 
ces of  horrible  barbarity  exercised  toward  that  unhap- 
py people,  the  following  is  a  well  attested  fact.  In  a 
late  trial,  at  Guildhall,  in  London,  it  appeared,  that  a 
ship  freighted  with  slaves,  being  reduced  to  a  want  of 
water,  one  hundred  and  thirty-three  negroes  were  hand- 
cufted  and  thrown  into  the  sea !  The  further  importa- 
tion of  slaves  to  any  part  of  the  British  dominions,  has 
lately  been  prohibited  by  act  of  parliament. — Bryan  Ed- 
wards, et  ceteri. 


SLEEP— SLOTH— SMALL  POX.          349 

SLEEP,  that  state  wherein  the  body  seems  perfectly 
at  rest,  and  external  objects  act  on  the  organs  of  sense, 
without  exciting  their  usual  sensations.  Sleep  is  ne- 
cessary not  only  to  animals,  but  even  some  of  the  vege- 
table tribes  have  the  faculty  of  assuming,  during  the 
night,  a  position  essentially  different  from  that  which 
they  bear  throughout  the  day.  This  change  takes  place 
principally  towards  the  approach  of  night,  in  leaves  and 
flowers ;  the  appearance  of  which  often  varies  so  con- 
siderably, that  the  same  plants  can  scarcely  be  recog- 
nized. During  the  night,  their  leaves  are  observed  to 
rise  or  curl  up,  and  sometimes  to  be  pendent,  according 
to  the  nature  and  genus  of  the  plant,  in  order  to  protect 
the  flowers,  buds,  and  young  stems.  This  period  of  rest 
is  absolutely  necessary  to  vegetables  ;  their  irritability 
being  exhausted  by  the  light  and  warmth  of  the  day.— 
Dom.  Encyclopaedia. 

SLOTH,  an  ill-formed  animal,  that  takes  its  name 
from  the  extreme  slowness  of  its  motion.  It  lives  on 
the  leaves,  fruit,  flowers,  and  bark  of  trees.  Though  it 
is  formed  by  nature  for  climbing  a  tree  with  great  pain, 
and  difficulty,  yet  it  is  utterly  unable  to  descend  ;  and 
is  therefore  obliged  to  drop  from  the  branches  to  the 
ground,  and  feels  no  small  shock  in  the  fall.  It  moves 
not  above  three  feet  in  an  hour;  and  it  often  takes  a 
week  in  crawling  to  a  tree  not  fifty  yards  distant.  At 
every  step  it  takes,  it  puts  forth  a  most  plaintive  melan- 
choly cry ;  its  look  is  so  piteous  as  to  move  compassion  ; 
it  is  also  accompanied  with  tears,  that  dissuade  every  one 
from  injuring  so  wretched  a  creature.  The  sloth  chews 
the  cud,  has  a  coarse  fur,  and  is  so  strong  that  if  it  hap- 

Eens  to  take  hold  of  a  dog  with  its  claws,  it  holds  him 
ist. — Goldsmith. 

SMALL  POX,  a  contagious  disease,  consisting  of  a: 
general  eruption  of  pustules  tending  to  suppuration,  and 
accompanied  with  a  fever.  Dr.  Waterhouse,  in  a  pub- 
lication that  recommends  the  substitution  of  the  Cow 
Po,r,  makes  the  following  statement.  "  No  less  than 
forty  millions  of  people  die  of  the  small  pox  every  cen- 
tury. The  Europeans  have  carried  the  small  pox  over 
the  globe.  The  Danes  carried  it  to  Greenland,  and  tm* 
F  f 


S50  SNAKE  BIRD— SNOW. 

Spaniards  to  South  America,  where  one  hundred  thou- 
sand perished  with  it  in  the  single  province  of  Quito. 
When  the  number  of  annual  births  in  London  was  six- 
teen thousand  two  hundred  and  ninety-one,  the  number 
who  died  annually  with  the  small  pox  was  two  thousand 
five  hundred  and  fifty-four;  and  still  greater  in  some 
other  large  cities  of  Europe."  According  to  Mavius, 
an  ancient  bishop  of  the  Christian  church,  the  small  pox, 
when  it  first  appeared  in  the  world,  in  the  year  570,  prin- 
cipally attacked  horned  cattle  ;  hence  there  is  a  strong 
probability  that  the  cow  pox  is,  in  fact,  no  other  than  the 
small  pox,  only  having  undergone  certain  changes  by 
passing  through  the  system  of  the  cow  ;  nor  is  it  a  lit- 
tle remarkable  that  the  same  animal  which  first  had  the 
disease,  should  furnish  man  with  the  best  preventative 
of  this  dreadful  malady.  See  the  articles  INOCULATION, 
VACCINATION. 

SNAKE  BIRD,  a  very  curious  and  handsome  bird 
that  is  found  in  great  plenty  about  the  waters  of  theTlor- 
idas.  The  head  and  neck  are  extremely  small  and  slen- 
der, the  latter  being  remarkably  long.  The  lower  part 
of  the  belly  and  the  thighs  are  as  black  and  as  glossy 
as  a  raven ;  the  breast  and  upper  part  of  the  belly  are 
covered  with  feathers  of  a  cream  colour;  the  tail  is  very 
long,  of  a  deep  black,  and  tipped  with  a  silvery  white. 
They  are  frequently  seen  sitting  on  the  dry  limbs  of 
trees,  hanging  over  the  water;  and  when  they  perceive 
themselves  approached,  they  drop  off  from  the  limbs 
into  the  water,  as  if  dead,  and  for  a  minute  or  two  are 
not  to  be  seen ;  when  on  a  sudden,  at  a  distance,  their 
long  slender  head  and  neck  oniy  appear,  and  have  the 
appearance  very  much  of  a  snake. — Bartram. 

SNOW,  an  aqueous  meteor  formed  of  vapors  in  the 
middle  regions  of  the  air;  and  whose  parts  are  there 
congealed  and  descend  to  the  earth  in  white  flakes.  It 
has  been  a  prevailing  opinion  that  snow  communicates 
to  the  earth  some  enriching  substance  which  tends  to 
increase  its  fertility  ;  and  in  order  to  ascertain  the  truth 
of  this  opinion  the  following  experiment  was  tried  in 
Vermont,  January  30,  1792.  There  was  collected  as 
much  snow  which  lay  next  to  the  earth  in  an  open  field. 


SNOW  BIRD— SOCIETY  ISLANDS— SOUND.     351 

as  produced  six  gallons  of  water :  this  snow  had  lain  up- 
on the  ground  fifty -nine  days.  Upon  evaporating  the 
water  there  remained  a  quantity  of  oily  matter.  The 
oil  was  of  a  dark  brown  colour,  not  inflammable,  and 
weighed  four  pennyweights  and  nine  grains,  Troy 
weight.  To  this  oily  substance  is  probably  to  be  im- 
puted that  dirty  or  sooty  appearance,  which  the  snow  is 
generally  observed  to  have,  after  it  begins  to  thaw.  It 
was  found  that  the  same  quantity  of  snow,  collected  as 
it  was  falling,  produced  only  five  grains  of  the  oily  sub- 
stance.— Williams. 

SNOW  BIRD,  a  beautiful,  active,  sprightly  little  ani- 
mal. They  are  generally  of  a  grey  colour,  and  less 
than  a  sparrow.  Flocks  of  them  appear  as  soon  as  the 
snow  begins  to  fall  in  any  considerable  quantity ;  and 
generally  a  day  or  two  before.  They  perch  on  the  spires 
of  vegetables  above  the  snow,  on  the  bushes  and  trees  ; 
and  collect  on  the  spots  of  bare  ground.  In  the  most 
severe  storms  of  snow,  these  birds  appear  to  be  the  most 
active  and  lively.  They  feed  on  the  seeds  of  vegeta- 
bles, and  are  extremely  fat  and  delicious.  They  all  dis- 
appear as  soon  as  the  snow  goes  oft*.— Williams. 

SOCIETY  ISLANDS,  a  cluster  of  isles,  discovered 
by  Captain  Cooke,  in  1769,  and  so  named  by  him,  be- 
cause they  lie  almost  contiguous  to  one  another.  They 
are  situated  in  the  Southern  Ocean ;  and  abound  with 
cocoa-nut,  bread-fruit  trees,  and  sugar-cane.  So  high- 
ly did  the  natives  of  these  islands  prize  iron,  after  they 
had  begun  to  know  the  use  of  it,  that  one  of  their  chiefs 
who  had  gained  possession  of  two  nails,  received  no 
small  emolument  by  letting  them  out  to  his  neighbors 
for  boring  holes. — >Cooke's  Voyages. 

SOUND,  a  perception  raised  by  means  of  the  air 
put  in  motion,  and  vibrating  on  the  drum  of  the  ear. 
Denser  bodies  propagate  vibration  or  sound  better  than 
rarer  ones.  If  two  stones  be  struck  together  under  the 
water  they  may  be  heard  a  mile  or  two  by  any  one. 
whose  head  is  at  that  distance  under  the  same  body  of 
water.  If  the  ear  be  applied  to  one  end  of  a  long  beam 
of  timber,  the  stroke  of  a  pin  at  the  other  end  becomes 


35£    SOUTH  AMERICA— SOUTH  CAROLINA. 

sensible  ;  and  if  a  poker  be  suspended  in  the  middle  of 
a  garter,  each  end  of  which  is  pressed  against  the  ear, 
the  least  percussions  on  the  poker  give  great  sounds. 
The  organs  of  hearing  belonging  to  fish,  are  for  this 
reason  much  less  complicated  than  those  of  quadrupeds, 
as  the  fluid  they  are  immersed  in  so  much  better  con- 
veys its  vibration. — Darwin.  Sound  proceeds  at  the 
rate  of  about  thirteen  miles  in  a  minute  ;  and  its  pro- 
gress is  the  same  whether  it  goes  with  the  wind  or 
against  it. 

'  SOUTH  AMERICA,  a  great  division  of  the  Amer- 
ican continent  ;  extending  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pa- 
cific Ocean,  and  from  the  Isthmus  of  Darien,  at  about  the 
tenth  degree  of  north  latitude,  to  the  fifty-sixth  degree 
of  south  latitude,  at  the  extremety  of  Cape  Horn.  Of 
this  division,  Terra  Firma,  Peru,  Chili,  and  Paraguay, 
belong  to  Spain  ;  Brazil  belongs  to  Portugal ;  Cayenne 
to  France,  and  Guiana  to  the  Dutch.  Amazonia  and 
Patagonia  are  in  the  possession  of  the  natives,  or  In- 
dians. 

SOUTH  CAROLINA,  one  of  the  United  States  of 
America  ;  lying  between  32°  and  35°  north  latitude  ; 
bordering  on  North  Carolina  and  the  Atlantic  Ocean, 
and  divided  from  Georgia  by  Savannah  river ;  it  is  about 
two  hundred  miles  in  length,  and  a  hundred  and  twen- 
ty-five in  breadth.  The  sail  is  excellent  hi  most  parts 
of  this  state  ;  and  the  plantations  yield  rice,  indigo  and 
cotton.  Dr.  Chalmers,  of  Charleston,  in  a  sketch  of  the 
climate,  water  and  soil  of  South  Carolina,  says  :  "  I 
doubt  not  but  South  Carolina  produces  all  sorts  »f  me- 
tals ;  as  gold,  silver,  copper,  iron,  and  lead,  have  already 
been  discovered.  We  also  have  antimony,  allum,  tale, 
black  lead,  marl,  and  very  fine  white  clay,  which  is  fit 
for  making  porcelain.  1  likewise  have  seen  emeralds, 
that  were  brought  from  the  country  of  the  Cherokee 
Indians,  which,when  cut  and  polished,  fell  nothing  short 
of  those  which  are  imported  from  India,  in  lustre  ;  and 
rock-crystal  abounds  in  several  places."  Charleston, 
the  metropolis  of  this  state,  is  situated  at  the  confluence 
of  the  rivers  Ashley  and  Cooper,  about  seven  miles  from 
the  ocean.  Its  situation  is  admirable,  being  built  at  the 


SPAIN.  353 

confluence  of  those  two  large  rivers,  which  receive  in 
their  course  a  great  number  of  inferior  streams  ;  all 
navigable,  in  the  spring,  for  flat  boats,  This  is  said  to 
be  the  gayest  city  in  the  United  States,  and  the  richest 
in  proportion  to  its  size. 

SPAIN,  a  kingdom  of  Europe  ;  lying  between  about 
36°  arid  44°  north  latitude  5  extending  seven  hundred 
miles  in  length,  and  five  hundred  in  breadth;  bounded 
by  Portugal  and  the  Atlantic,  by  the  Mediterranean,  by 
the  Bay  of  Biscay,  and  by  the  Pyrenean  Mountains,  which 
separate  it  from  France.  It  enjoys  a  fine  climate  and 
soil ;  but  is  thinly  inhabited,  and  bears  the  evident  marks 
of  decay  and  poverty.  A  little  more  than  two  centuries 
ago,  this  was  a  most  powerful  kingdom.  No  European 
prince  ever  possessed  such  vast  resources  as  Philip  II. 
of  Spain,  in  the  sixteenth  century.  Besides  his  Spanish 
and  Italian  dominions,  together  with  those  of  Portugal 
and  the  Netherlands,  he  enjoyed  the  whole  East  India 
commerce,  and  reaped  the  immensely  rich  harvest  of 
the  American  mines.  The  following  things  have  reduc- 
ed the  Spanish  nation  to  its  present  impotent  and  ab- 
ject state.  First,  the  horrible  inquisition,  together  with 
prodigious  numbers  of  idle  monks.  Second,  the  long 
bloody,  expensive,  and  fruitless  war  with  the  Dutch, 
Third,  the  loss  of  the  Armada,  a  fleet  that  was  equipped 
at  immense  expense.  Fourth,  the  emigrations  to  Ameri- 
ca, in  quest  01  the  precious  metals.  Fifth,  the  expul- 
sion of  the  Moors,  to  the  number  of  a  million  industri- 
ous people,  which  left  a  great  part  of  the  kingdom  in  a 
manner  desolate.  Sixth,  the  indolence  and  luxury  pro- 
duced by  the  vast  influx  of  wealth  from  the  mines  of 
America  and  from  the  India  commerce.  Seventh,  the 
contempt  in  which  agricultural  and  mechanical  labor- 
has  been  held.  Owing  to  these  causes,  Spain,  though 
constantly  replenished  with  golden  showers,  has  been 
cons  an4 ly  decaying;  for  her  outgoes  have  exceeded 
her  incomes.  This  country,  in  ancient  times,  abounded 
with  rich  mines  of  the  precious  metals;  and  thence  the 
Carthagenians  drew  the  greater  part  of  the  silver  and 
gold  which  they  used  in  carrying  on  their  vast  com- 
merce. Spain  is  renovated.  Her  glorious  and  success- 
ful struggles  for  independence,  afford  reasonable  hopes* 
F  f  2 


354        SPANIEL— SPANISH  BROOM,  &c* 

that  under  the  mixed  government,  suited  to  the  genius 
of  the  people,  she  will  hold  a  very  respectable  rank 
among  the  nations  of  Europe. 

SPANIEL,  a  dog  remarkable  for  its  docility.  The 
land-spaniel  probably  had  its  name  from  Spain  :  and 
there  are  two  varieties  of  this  kind,  namely,  the  slater, 
used  in  hawking  to  spring  the  game,  and  the  setter, 
which  crouches  down  when  it  scents  the  birds,  till  the 
net  be  drawn  over  them  ;  the  water-spaniel  was  another 
species  used  in  fowling.  The  spaniel  seems  to  be  the 
most  docile  of  all  the  dog  kind  ;  and  this  docility  is  par- 
ticulary  owing  to  his  natural  attachment  to  man.  Many 
other  kinds  will  not  bear  correction ;  but  this  patient 
creature,  though  very  fierce  to  strangers,  seems  unal- 
terable in  his  affections ;  and  blows  and  ill  usage  seem 
only  to  increase  his  regard. — Goldsmith. 

SPANISH  BROOM,  a  useful  shrub,  the  seeds  of 
which  are  sown  in  the  most  dry  spots,  on  the  steepest 
declivities  of  hills,  in  a  stony  sod,  where  hardly  any 
other  plant  could  vegetate.  In  a  few  years  it  grows  up 
to  a  vigorous  shrub.  Insinuating  its  roots  between  the 
interstices  of  the  stones,  it  binds  the  soil,  and  retains 
the  small  portion  of  vegetable  earth,  scattered  over 
those  hills,  which  the  autumnal  rains  would  otherwise 
wash  away.  There  are  two  uses  to  which  this  plant  is 
applied;  its  branches  yield  a  thread,  of  which  they 
make  linen ;  and,  in  winter,  they  serve  as  food  for  sheep 
and  goats. 

SPICE  ISLANDS,  or  the  Moluccas  and  Banda  Isl- 
and*, in  the  Indian  Ocean;  they  produce  the  finest 
spicery,  particularly  nutmegs,  mace,  cinnamon,  and 
cloves.  These  islands  are  owned  by  the  Dutch  ;  who 
are  said  to  burn  all  the  spiceries  which  a  fertile  season 
produces  beyond  what  they  expect  to  dispose  of  ia 
Europe,  with  such  a  profit  as  they  think  sufficient.  In 
the  islands  where  they  have  no  settlements,  they  give  a 
premium  to  those  who  collect  the  young  blossoms  and 
green  leaves  of  the  clove  and  nutmeg  trees  which  na- 
turally grow  there,  but  which  this  savage  policy  has 
»0\v,  it  i»  saidj  almost  completely  extirpated,  Even  if* 


SPIDER.  355 

the  islands  where  they  had  settlements,  they  have  very 
much  reduced,  it  is  said,  the  number  of  those  trees.  If 
the  produce  of  their  own  islands  should  be  much 
greater  than  what  suited  their  market,  the  natives,  they 
suspect,  might  find  means  to  convey  some  part  of  it  to 
other  nations  ;  and  the  best  way,  they  imagine  to  se- 
cure their  own  monopoly,  is  to  take  care  that  no  more 
shall  grow  than  what  they  themselves  carry  to  market. 
By  different  acts  of  oppression,  they  have  reduced  the 
population  of  several  of  the  Moluccas  nearly  to  the 
number  which  is  sufficient  to  supply  with  fresh  pro- 
visions and  other  necessaries  of  life  their  own  insignifi- 
cant, garrisons,  and  such  of  their  ships  as  occasionally 
come  there  for  a  cargo  of  spices. — Jl.  Smith.  The 
spice  islands  have  changed  owners  ;  being  at  the  pre- 
sent time  held  by  the  government  of  Great  Britain. 

SPIDER,  an  animal  detested  wherever  seen;  yet 
the  finest  spinner  perhaps  on  the  globe.  The  spider  is 
a  genus  of  insects  comprehending  eight  species.  The 
common  house  spider  is  generally  of  a  black  colour ; 
has  eight  legs,  each  terminating  in  a  crooked  claw ; 
has  also  eight  eyes  ;  and,  in  the  fore  part  of  the  head, 
there  is  a  pair  of  pinchers,  with  which  it  kills  flies. 
Nature  has  furnished  this  little  animal  with  a  glutinous 
liquor,  which  it  spins  to  what  size  it  pleases,  either  by 
opening  or  contracting  the  sphincter  muscles.  In  or- 
der to  spin  its  thread,  as  soon  as  it  begins  its  operations? 
it  presses  out  a  drop  of  the  liquor,  which,  as  it  dries., 
forms  the  thread  it  draws  out  as  it  diverges  from  itsr 
first  position.  When  it  reaches  its  intended  distance, 
it  draws  this  thread  with  its  claws  to  stretch  it  properly, 
and  fix  it  to  the  wall,  as  it  did  the  other  end  before  it 
set  off.  Thus  it  secures  many  threads  parallel  to  each 
other,  which  serve  as  a  warp  for  its  web  :  to  form  its 
woof  it  does  the  same  thing  transverse  ;  securing  those 
parts  which  are  most  subject  to  be  torn,  by  doub- 
ling them  several  times.  The  spider's  thread  (ac- 
cording to  Dr.  Rittenhouse)  is  not  one  tenth  of  the 
size  of  the  thread  of  the  silkworm,  and  is  rounder  and 
more  evenly  of  a  thickness.  Herschell  and  other  Eu- 
ropean astronomers  had  made  use  of  single  filaments 
of  silk  foF  the  cross  hairs  of  certain  optical  instruments^ 


S56  SPINNING— SP1TZBERGEN. 

Dr.  Rittenhouse  had  done  the  same  ;  but  finding  that 'a 
single  filament  of  silk  would  totally  obscure,  for  several 
seconds  of  time,  a  small  star,  if  the  star  be  near  the  pole; 
he  placed  the  thread  of  a  spider  in  some  of  his  instru- 
ments ;  and  found  it  both  lasting  and  far  surpassing  any 
thing  else  that  had  been  used  in  point  of  convenience/ 

SPINNING,  a  female  employment  of  great  utility 
and  importance  ;  and  which  in  former  times  was 
thought  honorable  for  the  daughters  even  of  the  great- 
est monarchs.  Alexander  the  Great  said  to  Sysigam- 
bis,  the  mother  of  Darius  king  of  Persia,  "  Mother, 
the  stuff  in  which  you  see  me  clothed,  was  not  only  a 
gift  of  my  sisters,  but  wrought  by  their  fingers." 
Plutarch  said,  in  way  of  reproach  of  Fuivia,  a  woman 
of  exalted  rank,  that  she  could  neither  spin  nor  stay  at 
home.  Of  the  daughters  of  Charlemagne,  or  Charles 
the  Great,  emperor  of  France,  in  the  eighth  century, 
there  is  this  notice  in  the  old  historian  EginharcL  "  He 
(the  emperor)  ordered  his  daughters  to  be  accustomed 
to  dressing  of  wool,  to  the  spindle  and  distaff ;  to  at- 
tend their  work,  and  to  be  taught  every  useful  art,  that 
they  might  not  slumber  in  idleness."  The  skill  of  the 
East-Indian  women  in  the  article  of  spinning,  is  well 
known  :  the  delicate  textures  with  which  they  furnish 
us  are  a  proof  of  it.  Some  cotton  it  is  said,  is  spun  so 
exquisitely  fine,  that  the  force  of  the  air  alone  is  suffi- 
cient to  break  it  :  in  this  case  it  is  worked  over  the 
steam  of  boiling  water,  which,  by  moistening  the  cot- 
ton, renders  it  more  ductile  and  less  liable  to  break, 
than  when  it  is  dry. 

SPITZBERGEN,  the  most  northern  country  of  Eu- 
rope, consisting  of  an  island  or  islands  ;  situated  be- 
tween Greenland  arid  Nova  Zembla,  and  from  76°  to 
70°  north  latitude.  The  coast  is  beset  with  craggy 
mountains,  and  in  the  months  of  June,  July,  and  August, 
the  sun  never  sets  ;  for  the  rest  of  the  year  it  is  hardly 
seen.  The  inland  parts  are  uninhabited,  and  the  coasts 
are  frequented  only  for  the  purpose  of  catching  whales. 
Here  there  is  such  a  constancy  of  cold,  that  bodies  ne- 
ver corrupt,  nor  suffer  any  apparent  alteration,  even 
though  buried  for  thirty  years.  Nothing  corrupts  or 


STARS.  AST 

putrifies  in  this  climate  :  the  wood  which  has  been 
employed  in  building  those  houses  where  the  train  oil 
is  separated,  appears  as  fresh  as  on  the  day  it  was  first 
cut. — Walker ,  Goldsmith., 

STARS,  the  heavenly  bodies  which  are  supposed  to 
shine  with  unborrowed  light.  They  are  called  fixed 
stars,  as  they  never  change  their  situations  with  respect 
to  each  other,  and  in  contradistinction  to  the  planets  and 
comets,  which  constantly  move  round  the  sun  in  their 
respective  orbits  ;  and  they  are  distinguishable  from  the 
planets  by  their  twinkling.  The  ancients  thought  the 
stars  to  be  only  a  few  thousand  miles  distant  from  the 
earth.  Homer,  imagining  the  seats  of  the  gods  to  be 
above  the  fixed  stars,  represented  the  falling  of  Vulcan 
from  thence  to  the  isle  of  Lemnos,  to  continue  during 
a  whole  day.  A  number  of  stars  that  appear  to  lie  in 
the  neighborhood  of  one  another,  is  called  a  Constella- 
tion ;  these  constellations  are  eighty  in  number.  Three 
of  the  constellations,  namely,  Pleiades,  Orion,  and 
Arcturus,  are  mentioned  in  the  book  of  Job.  Several 
of  the  constellations  are  mentioned  by  Hesiod  and 
Homer,  the  two  most  ancient  writers  among  the 
Greeks,  who  lived  from  eight  to  nine  hundred  years 
before  our  Saviour's  nativity.  Hesiod  directed  the 
farmer  to  regulate  the  time  of  sowing  and  harvest  by 
the  rising  and  setting  of  the  Pleiades  ;  and  Homer  in- 
forms us,  that  observations  from  the  Pleiades,  Orion, 
and  Arcturus,  were  used  in  navigation.  The  construc- 
tion and  improvement  of  telescopes  added  prodigiously 
to  the  number  of  visible  stars  ;  which  has  been  won- 
derfully increased,  for  the  two  last  centuries.  In  the 
beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century,  the  Landgrave 
of  Hesse-Cassel  made  a  catalogue  of  four  hundred 
stars  ;  and  near  the  same  time,  Tycho  Brache,  a  cele- 
brated Danish  astronomer,  made  a  catalogue  of  seven 
hundred  and  seventy.  About  the  middle  ofthat  century, 
[the  construction  of  telescopes  having  been  greatly 
improved,]  Mr.  Flamstead,  of  England,  gave  a  cata- 
logue of  three  thousand  stars.  Mr.  Le  Lande,  a 
Frenchman,  in  the  eighteenth  century,  made  a  cata- 
logue of  fifty  thousand  stars.  Mr.  Herschell's  great 
discovery  of  augmenting  the  power  of  the  telescope. 


358  STATURE— STEAM. 

opened  at  once  a  new  and  amazing  scene  in  the  hea- 
vens ;  rendering  innumerable  stars  visible  which  had 
always  before  been  hidden  from  the  sight  of  mortals* 
Mr.  Herschell,  calculating  from  the  fields  of  stars, 
which  he  had  surveyed  and  numbered,  supposed  that 
there  are  millions  within  the  telescopic  view  ;  and 
these  perhaps  not  the  ten  hundredth  part  of  the  whole 
that  are  scattered  over  the  universe.  The  fixed  star 
nearest  of  any  to  us,  is  Sirius  ;  whose  distance  is  sup- 
posed to  be  not  less  than  four  hundred  thousand  times 
greater  than  that  of  the  sun  from  us,  or  thirty-eight 
millions  of  millions  of  miles.  Some  of  the  fixed  stars 
are  at  least  six  hundred  times  the  distance  of  Sirius 
from  us  ;  and  the  light  of  a  star  placed  at  this  extreme 
boundary,  supposing  it  to  fly  with  the  velocity  of  twelve 
millions  of  miles  a  minute,  must  have  taken  three 
thousand  years  to  reach  us.  Astronomers  suppose 
every  one  of  the  innumerable  multitude  of  fixed  stars 
to  be  a  sun  attended  by  planets,  each  of  which  is  an 
habitable  world  like  our  own.  How  great  and  marvel- 
lous are  the  works  of  God  I— British  Encyclopaedia. 

STATURE,  the  height  of  an  animal.  It  is  a  knowii 
fact  that  people  in  younger  life  are  taller  in  the  morn- 
ing than  at  night,  owing  to  the  pressure  of  the  upper 
parts  in  the  day-time  while  the  person  is  hi  aft  upright 
posture,  on  the  cartillage  between  the  verteber  of  the 
neck  and  back  ;  which  cartilages,  by, their  spring,  re- 
sume their  tone  and  former  dimensions  in  the  horizon- 
tal position  of  the  body  during  sleep  ;  the  incumbent 
weight  or  pressure,  being,  for  that  interval,  arid  during 
that  posture  removed.  But  it  is  not  so  with  the  aged  : 
the  cartilages  in  them  are  grown  dry,  and  thin,  arid 
springless  ;  by  reason  whereof  their  stature  will  con- 
stantly continue  at  the  lowest  pitch.  And  as  the  in- 
terstices of  the  verteber  are  consequently  enlarged,  the 
head,  by  its  weight,  will  moreover  naturally  fall  for- 
ward, and  a  bending  in  the  back  ensue.  Hence  old 
persons  are  never  so  tall  as  they  were  in  their  prime.— 
Ilowe.  » 

STEAM,  the  vapor  arising  from  boiling  or  hot  li- 
quids. There  is  no  doubt  that  machines  impelled  by 


STEEL—  STOCK  DOVE.  359 

the  force  of  steam  are  the  most  powerful  ever  formed 
bj  the  art  of  man.  One  of  these  machines  or  engines, 
employed  for  draining  the  deep  mines  of  Cornwall  in 
England,  works  a  pump  of  eighteen  inches  in  diameter, 
and  upwards  of  six  hundred  feet  high,  at  the  rate  of 
from  ten  to  twelve  strokes,  of  seven  feet  long  each,  in 
a  minute.  The  power  of  this  engine  may  be  more 
easily  comprehended,  by  saying  that  it  can  raise  a 
weight  equal  to  eighty-one  thousand  pounds,  eighty 
feet  high  in  a  minute  ;  which  is  equal  to  the  combined 
action  of  two  hundred  good  horses.  —  Darivin.  Steam 
is  now  employed  in  several  important  uses,  in  the  Uni- 
ted States  :  particularly  in  navigating  the  Hudson  and 
some  other  rivers,  and  also  Lake  Champlain. 

STEEL,  iron  purified  in  the  fire  with  other  ingredi- 
ents, which  render  it  white,  and  its  grain  closer  and 
liner.  It  is  probably  owing  to  a  total  deprivation  of 
vital  air,  which  it  holds  with  so  great  avidity,  that  iron, 
kept  many  hours  or  days  in  ignited  charcoal,  becomes 
converted  into  steel,  and  thence  acquires  the  faculty  of 
being  welded,  when  red  hot,  long  before  it  melts,  and 
also  the  power  of  becoming  hard  when  immersed  in 
rold  water.  Some  artists  plunge  edge  tools  into  very 
cold  water  as  soon  as  they  are  completely  ignited,  and 
moving  them  about,  take  them  out  as  soon  as  they 
cease  to  be  luminous  beneath  the  water  ;  they  are  then 
rubbed  quickly  with  a  file,  or  on  sand,  to  clean  the  sur- 
face ;  the  heat  which  the  metal  still  retains  soon  begins 
to  produce  a  succession  of  colours.  If  a  hard  temper 
be  required,  the  piece  is  dipped  again,  and  stirred  about 
in  cold  water  as  soon  as  the  yellow  tinge  appears  ;  if  it 
be  cooled  when  the  purple  tinge  appears,  it  becomes  fit 
for  graver's  tools,  and  is  used  in  working  upon  metals  ; 
if  cooled  while  blue,  it  is  proper  for  springs.- 


STOCK  DOVE,  a  species  of  dove  from  which  all 
the  varieties  of  pigeons  are  supposed  to  derive  their 
origin.  This  bird,  in  its  natural  state,  is  of  a  deep  bluish 
ash  colour  ;  the  breast  dashed  with  a  fine  changeable 
green  and  purple  ;  its  wings  marked  with  two  black 
bars  ;  the  back  white,  and  the  tail  barred  near  the  end 
with  black.  The  stock  dove  is  easily  tamed,  breeds 


360  STORK— STALSUND. 

every  month,  lays  two  white  eggs,  from  which  are 
commonly  hatched  a  male  and  female.  The  old  pair 
take  turns  in  setting.  The  female  sets  from  three  or 
four  o'clock  in  the  evening  till  nine  the  next  day  5  the 
male  then  sets  from  nine  to  three.  If  the  female  neg- 
lects coming  at  the  fixed  time,  the  male  follows  her, 
and  drives  her  along  to  the  nest :  so  also  if  he  keeps 
away  when  he  ought  to  be  setting,  she  goes  after  him 
and  scolds  him  home.  When  the  birds  are  hatched, 
the  old  male  usually  feeds  the  young  female,  and  the 
old  female  feeds  the  young  male.  Among  the  varie- 
ties proceeding  from  the  stock  dove,  the  species  called 
the  turtle  dove,  is  very  remarkable.  This  kind  of  pi- 
geon is  distinguished  from  others  by  a  crimson  circle 
round  the  eye-lid,  and  is  noted  for  its  surprising  con- 
stancy and  fidelity  to  its  mate  ;  a  pair  of  turtle  doves 
being  put  together  in  a  cage,  if  one  dies,  the  other 
grieves  itself  to  death, — Goldsmith. 

STORK,  a  bird  of  the  crane  kind,  of  a  white  and 
brown  colour.  It  preys  upon  frogs,  fishes,  and  ser- 
pents; and  always  lives  near  towns  and  populous  places. 
Storks  are  birds  of  passage  ;  but  it  is  hard  to  say  whence 
they  come  or  whither  they  go.  When  they  withdraw 
from  Europe,  they  all  assemble  on  a  particular  day,  and 
never  leave  one  of  their  company  behind  them.  They 
take  their  flight  in  the  night,  and  they  generally  return, 
into  Europe  in  the  middle  of  March,  and  make  their 
nests  in  the  tops  of  chimnies  and  houses,  as  well  as  of 
high  trees.  The  old  Dutch  republicans  were  very 
solicitous  for  the  preservation  of  the  stork  in  every 
part  of  their  territory ;  having  an  opinion  that  it  would 
live  only  in  a  republic.  This  bird  seems  to  have  taken 
refuge  among  their  towns ;  building  on  the  tops  of 
their  houses  without  any  molestation  :  it  was  seen  rest- 
ing familiarly  in  their  streets,  and  was  protected  as  well 
by  their  laws  as  by  the  prejudices  of  the  people.  The 
ancient  Egyptians  paid  adoration  to  this  bird,  by  reason 
of  its  usefulness  in  destroying  serpents. — Goldsmith. 

STRALSUND,  a  strong  town  in  Pomerania,  situated 
between  the  Baltic  and  the  Lake  of  Franken.  In  1715, 
Charles  XII.  of  Sweden,  with  a  small  number  offerees, 


STROMBOLO— STURGEON.  361 

-was  besieged  in  this  town  bj  the  combined  armies  of 
Danes,  Russians,  and  Germans.  The  bombs  fell  upon 
the  houses  as  thick  as  hail,  and  half  the  town  was  re- 
duced to  ashes  :  but  all  this  seined  to  make  no  im- 
pression on  the  mind  of  Charles.  One  day  while  he 
was  dictating  some  letters,  a  bomb  bursting  very  near 
his  apartment,  his  secretary  dropped  his  pen.  "  What 
is  the  matter,"  said  Charles.  "  The  bomb,  sir,"  re- 
plied the  astonished  secretary.  "  Write  on,"  said 
Charles,  with  an  air  of  indifference;  "  What  relation 
has  the  bomb  to  the  letter  I  am  dictating  ?" 

STROMBOLO,  a  volcanic  mountain,  five  hundred 
fathoms  in  height;  situated  on  one  of  the  Lipari  islands* 
in  the  Mediterranean.  Of  all  the  volcanoes  recorded 
in  history,  Strombolo  seems  to  be  the  only  one  that 
burns  without  ceasing.  Etna  and  Vesuvius  often  lie 
•quiet  for  many  months,  and  even  years,  without  the 
least  appearance  of  fire  ;  but  Strombolo  is  ever  at 
work,  and,  for  ages  past,  has  been  looked  upon  as  the 
great  light-house  of  the  Mediterranean  Sea.  Notwith- 
standing its  incessant  fires,  the  mountain  is  inhabited 
.at  some  distance  from  the  crater. — Mam. 

STURGEON,  a  fish  of  great  curiosity,  as  well  as 
great  importance.  His  mouth  is  placed  under  the  head, 
without  teeth,  like  the  opening  of  a  purse  ;  which  he 
has  the  power  to  push  suddenly  out.  or  retract.  Before 
the  mouth  under  the  beak,  or  nose,  hang  four  tendrils, 
some  inches  long,  and  which  so  resemble  earth-worms, 
that  at  first  sight  they  might  be  mistaken  for  them. 
This  clumsy  toothless  fish  is  supposed  by  this  contri- 
vance, to  keep  himself  in  good  condition ;  the  solidity 
of  his  flesh  evidently  shewing  him  to  be  a  fish  of  prey. 
The  flesh  of  tlie  sturgeon  was  so  valued  at  the  time  of 
the  Roman  Emperor  Severus,  that  it  was  brought  to 
table  by  servants  with  coronets  on  their  heads,  and  pre- 
ceded by  music  ;  which  might  give  rise  to  the  custom 
of  presenting  it  by  the  lord  mayor  of  London  to  the 
king  of  England.  At  present  it  is  caught  in  the  Da- 
nube, the  Don,  and  other  large  rivers,  for  various  pur- 
poses. The  skin  makes  the  best  covering  for  car- 
nages; isinglass  is  prepared  from  parts  of  the  skin. 


362    SUBMARINE  PLANTS— SUEZ— SUGAR. 

{"and  from  the  sounds  5]  cavear  from  the  spawn ;  and 
the  flesh  is  pickled,  or  salted,  and  sent  all  over  Europe. 
—Darwin. 

SUBMARINE  PLANTS,  vegetables  growing  at 
the  bottom  of  the  sea.  The  bottom  of  the  sea  is  pas- 
turage for  innumerable  multitudes  of  living  creatures 
which  dwell  there.  The  whole  bottom  of  the  Red  Sea, 
in  particular,  is,  literally  speaking,  a  forest  of  subma- 
rine plants,  and  corals,  formed  by  insects  for  their  habi- 
tations. Here  are  seen  the  madrepores,  the  sponges, 
mosses,  sea-mushrooms,  and  other  marine  productions, 
covering  every  part  of  the  bottom.  Such  submarine 
productions  are  also  found  in  great  quantities  in  the 
Persian  Gulf,  along  the  coasts  of  Africa,  and  those  of 
Provence  and  Catalonia. — Goldsmith. 

SUEZ,  an  isthmus  or  neck  of  land,  by  which  Africa 
is  joined  to  the  continent  of  Asia.  It  extends  about 
sixty  miles  from  the  Mediterranean,  or  mouth  of  the 
Nile,  to  the  Arabian  Gulf  or  Red  Sea.  About  six 
hundred  years  before  our  Saviour's  nativity,  Necho, 
king  of  Egypt,  attempted  to  dig  a  canal,  through  the 
Isthmus  of  Suez  from  the  mouth  of  the  Nile  to  the 
Red  Sea;  in  which  work,  it  is  said,  above  twentj 
thousand  Egyptians  perished.  Such  a  canal,  from  the 
Mediterranean  to  the  Red  Sea,  if  completely  navigable, 
would  shorten  the  voyage  from  Europe  to  India  nearly 
two  thirds :  yet  by  reason  of  the  monsoons,  it  could 
take  no  less  than  three  years  to  perform  that  voyage.- — • 
See  MONSOONS  and  RED  SEA. 

SUGAR,  a  substance  of  a  sweet  and  very  agreeable 
nature,  made  of  the  juice  of  the  sugar-cane.  Sugar 
was  first  brought  from  Arabia  into  Europe  5  and  for 
many  centuries  was  used  not  for  food,  but  for  medicine 
only.  Among  the  Romans  it  was  unknown  before  the 
reign  of  Nero.  According  to  Ramsay's  Review,  the 
quantity  of  this  article  used  in  England,  more  than  three- 
doubled  from  the.  year  1700  to  the  year  1790.  A  cen- 
tury ago,  even  the  rich  considered  it  as  a  luxury,  and 
d  it  sparingly  at  their  tables  ;  now  the  poorest  peg^ 
pie  think  it  a  necessary  of  life. 


SUGAR  CANE— SUGAR  MAPLE— SULPHUR.      363 

SUGAR  CANE,  a  pointed  reed  terminating  m 
leaves  or  blades,  whose  edges  are  finely  and  sharply 
serrated.  The  body  of  the  cane  is  strong  but  brittle, 
and  when  ripe  of  a  fine  straw  colour,  inclinable  to 
yellow  ;  and  it  contains  a  soft  pithy  substance,  which 
affords  a  copious  supply  of  juice  of  a  sweetness  the 
least  cloying  and  most  agreeable  in  nature.  The 
length  of  the  cane,  in  very  strong  lands,  is  sometimes 
twelve  feet ;  its  general  length,  however,  is  from  3  and 
an  half  to  7  feet:  and  in  very  rich  lands  the  root  has 
been  known  to  put  forth  upwards  of  an  hundred  suckers 
or  shoots.  A  pound  of  sugar  from  a  gallon  of  the  raw 
liquor  of  the  cane,  is  reckoned  in  Jamaica  very  good 
yielding.  A  sugar  plantation  well  conducted,  and  in  a 
favorable  soil,  is  computed  to  yield  as  many  hogsheads 
of  sugar  annually,  of  sixteen  hundred  pounds  weight, 
as  there  are  negroes  belonging  to  it.  The  average 
annual  profits  of  sugar  plantations  in  the  West-Indies, 
is  not  more  than  three  and  an  half  per  cent  on  the 
capitals. — Bryan  Edwards. 

SUGAR  MAPLE,  a  handsome  clean  tree  whick 
gives  a  deep  shade,  and  is  excellent  for  fuel :  it  grows 
readily  from  seeds.  The  largest  of  these  trees  are  five 
ard  an  half  or  six  feet  in  diameter  ;  and  will  yield  five 
gallons  of  sap  in  one  day ;  and  from  twelve  to  fifteen 
pounds  of  sugar,  during  the  season.  The  younger  and 
smaller  trees  afford  sap  or  juice,  in  a  still  greater  pro- 
portion. It  is  only  during  four  or  five  weeks  in  the 
spring,  that  the  juice  can  be  collected.  While  the  trees 
are  frozen  at  night,  and  thawed  in  the  day,  the  sap  runs 
plentifully;  but  as  soon  as  the  buds  come  on,  the  sap 
ceases  to  flow  in  such  a  manner  as  that  it  can  any  longer 
be  collected. — Williams. 

SULPHUR,  or  Brimstone,  a  hard  inflammable  mine- 
ral of  a  yellow  colour  ;  it  is  found  most  frequently  and 
plentifully  in  the  vicinity  of  volcanoes,  and  is  generally 
cast  in  rolls  for  sale.  Sulphur  is  of  great  utility  in  the 
arts.  It  is  an  essential  ingredient  in  the  manufacture  of 
gun-powder:  when  converted  into  an  acid  by  combus- 
tion in  he  open  air,  it  affords  that  extensively  useful 
liquid,  vulgarly  termed  oil  of  vitriol;  considerable 


364  ^UMACH— SUMATRA. 

quantities  of  which  are  consumed  in  dissolving  metals? 
especially  iron,  and  in  other  useful  arts.  It  is  further 
advantageously  employed  for  whitening  silk,  wool,  or 
other  articles,  by  exposing  them  to  its  fumes,  during 
combustion.  In  medicine,  sulphur  is  almost  a  specific 
in  cutaneous  diseases,  whether  administered  internally 
with  honey  or  molasses,  or  employed  externally  in  the 
form  of  ointment. —  Willich. 

SUMACH,  a  plant  that  grows  spontaneously  in  many 
parts  of  the  United  States;  bearing  a  small  red  berry, 
which  is  useful  as  a  dye,  and  has  been  discovered  to  be 
possessed  of  very  powerful  antiseptic  qualities.  It  has 
long  since  been  the  practice  among  the  natives  of  this 
continent,  to  substitute  the  sumach  berry  for  tobacco, 
and  the  secret  has  been  transmitted  to  Europe  ;  in  con- 
sequence of  which  it  became  so  universally  esteemed 
there  by  the  people  of  fashion  and  fortune,  that  largQ 
sums  were  offered  to  persons  of  mercantile  professions, 
for  this  valuable  but  common  production  of  nature.  It 
has  been  preferred  to  the  *best  manufactured  Virginia 
tobacco.  The  method  to  be  pursued  in  preparing  the 
sumach  to  a  state  proper  for  smoaking,  is,  to  procure  it 
in  the  month  of  November,  expose  it  some  time  to  the 
open  air,  spread  it  rery  thin  on  canvass,  and  then  dry  it 
in  an  oven,  one  third  heated.  After  having  completed 
the  progress  of  cure  thus  far,  spread  it  again  on  canvass, 
as  before ;  and  there  let  it  r'emain  twenty -two  hours, 
when  it  will  be  perfectly  fit  for  use.  The  branches  of 
the  elm-leaved  sumach,  when  dried  and  reduced  to  a 
powder,  are  used  in  tanning  Turkey  or  Morocco  leather. 

SUMATRA,  a  large  island  of  Asia;  extending  nine 
hundred  miles  in  length,  and  from  a  hundred  to  a 
hundred  and  fifty  in  breadth;  situated  on  each  side  of 
the  equator,  which  divides  it,  lengthwise,  nearly  into 
equal  parts  :  it  abounds  with  tigers  of  a  monstrous  size 
and  ferocity,  which  often  destroy  the  inhabitants,  and 
sometimes  in  a  manner  depopulate  a  whole  village.  It 
is  from  tins  qountry,  says  Walker,  that  most  of  the 
cassia  sent  to  Europe  is  produced.  The  cassia  tree 
grows  to  fifty  or  sixty  feet,  with  a  stem  of  about  two 
feet  diameter,  and  a  beautiful  and  regular  spreading 


SUN— SUN  DEW.  365 

head.  The  quantity  of  pepper  produced  in  the  British 
East-India  company's  district  on  this  island,  is  annu- 
ally twelve  hundred  tons  ;  of  which  the  greater  part 
goes  to  Europe,  and  the  rest  is  sent  to  China.  Sumatra 
produces  so  much  gold,  that  it  has  been  thought  by 
some  to  have  been  the  Ophir  mentioned  in  scripture. 


J,  that  vast  body  which  communicates  light  and 
the  earth,  and  to  "all  the  other  planets  belonging 


SUN, 
heat  to 

to  our  solar  system.  The  sun  is  placed  near  the  centre 
of  the  orbits  of  all  the  planets,  and  turns  round  its  axis 
in  twenty-five  days  and  a  quarter  ;  its  diameter  is  eight 
hundred  and  eighty- three  thousand  miles,  and  its  me- 
dial distance  from  the  earth  is  ninety -five  million  miles. 
This  body  is  not  luminous  in  all  parts,  but  has  a  num- 
ber of  dark  spots,  of  vast  extent,  which  are  plainly 
seen  by  the  help  of  glasses.  Dr.  Alexander  Wilson, 
professor  of  astronomy  at  Glasgow,  published  a  paper 
in  the  Philosophical  Transactions  for  1 774,  demonstrat- 
ing that  the  spots  in  the  sun's  disk  are  real  cavities,  or 
excavations  through  the  luminous  material  which  cov- 
ers the  other  part  of  the  sun's  surface.  One  of  these 
cavities  he  found  to  be  about  four  thousand  miles  deep, 
and  many  times  as  wide.  Ke'il  observes,  in  his  Astro- 
nomical Lectures,  that  he  frequently  saw  spots  in  the 
sun  which  are  larger  and  broader  not  only  than  Eu- 
rope and  Africa,  but  which  even  equal,  if  they  do  not 
exceed,  the  surface  of  the  whole  terraqueous  globe. — 
Bow  ditch)  Darwin. 

SUN  DEW,  or  Drosera,  a  plant  of  wonderful  pro- 
perties, growing  in  marshes.  The  leaves  of  this  marsh- 
plant  are  purple,  and  have  a  fringe  very  unlike  other 
vegetable  productions.  And,  what  is  curious,  at  the 
point  of  every  thread  of  this  erect  fringe,  stands  a 
pellucid  drop  of  mucilage,  resembling  a  ducal  coronet. 
This  mucus  is  a  secretion  from  certain  glands,  and 
prevents  small  insects  from  infesting  the  leaves  ;  as  the 
ear-wax,  in  animals,  seems  to  be  in  part  designed  to 
prevent  fleas  and  other  insects  from  getting  into  their 
ears.  Mr.  Wheatley,  an  eminent  surgeon,  in  London, 
observed  these  leaves  to  bend  inwards,  when  an  insect 

settled  on  them,    and  pointing  all  their  globules  o£ 

r*  ,-% 


,366    SUN  FLOWER— SUPERIOR  LAKE,  &c. 

mucus  to  the  centre,  so  as  completely  to  entangle  and 
destroy  it. — Darwin. 

SUN  FLOWER,  a  genus  of  plants  consisting  of 
several  species  :  it  has  its  name  from  its  following  the 
course  of  the  sun.  The  common  sun  flower  is  easily 
propagated  in  any  common  soil,  either  by  sowing  the 
seeds,  or  by  parting  the  roots  in  the  month  of  March, 
The  young  flower-cups  of  this  plant  may  be  dressed 
and  eaten  like  artichokes.  It  has  appeared  from  ex- 
periments made  in  Pennsylvania,  that  a  bushel  of  sun 
flower  seed  yields  a  gallon  of  oil,  and  that  an  acre  oi 
ground  planted  with  the  seed,  at  three  feet  apart,  will 
yield  between  forty  and  fifty  bushels  of  the  seed.  This 
oil  is  as  mild  as  sweet  oil,  and  is  equally  agreeable 
with  it  in  salads,  and  as  a  medicine.  It  may  also  be 
used  with  advantage  in  paints,  varnishes,  and  oint- 
ments. The  seed  is  raised  with  little  trouble,  and  grows 
an  land  of  moderate  fertility.— -Jlmerican  Museum. 

SUPERIOR  LAKE,  a  vast  lake  that  forms  a  part  of 
the  northern  boundary  of  the  United  States ;  and  is  sup- 
posed to  be  the  largest  body  of  fresh  water  on  the  globe. 
According  to  the  French  charts,  it  is  fifteen  hundred 
miles  in  circumference  5  and  is  situated  between  46° 
and  50°  north  latitude.  A  great  part  of  the  coast  is 
bounded  by  rocks  and  uneven  ground  ;  and  storms  are 
more  dreadful  ia  this  lake  than  in  the  ocean.  There 
are  many  islands  in  Lake  Superior;  two  of  them  have 
each  land  enough,  if  proper  for  cultivation,  to  form  a 
considerable  province  :  forty  rivers  empty  into  this  lake. 
Providence  doubtless  made  use  of  this  inland  sea  to 
furnish  the  interior  parts  of  the  country  with  that  supply 
of  vapors,  without  which,  like  the  interior  parts  of  Afri- 
ca, they  must  have  been  a  mere  desart. — Morse. 

SUSQUEHANNAH,  a  river  in  Pennsylvania.  This 
r/tvcr  begins  at  or  near  the  northern  boundary  of  Penn- 
sylvania, twelve  miles  from  the  river  Delaware,  and 
tvinding  several  hundred  miles  through  a  variegated 
Country, 'enters  the  state  of  Maryland,  fifty-eight  miles 
westward  of  Philadelphia.  It  falls  into  the  iiead  of  Ches- 
ipeake  Bay,  and  is  a  mile  wide  at  its  mouth,1  but  is  ttavl^ 


SWALLOW.  367 

gable  only  twenty  miles.  In  1784,  the  thaw  of  this  river 
produced  dreadful  effects.  The  winter  of  1783-4  was 
extremely  cold,  and  the  ice  very  thick.  In  the  month 
of  January  a  thaw  came  on  suddenly,  which  set  the  ice 
afloat  :  suddenly  again  the  weather  became  intensely 
cold,  so  as  to  obstruct  the  floating  ice,  which  was  form- 
ed into  heaps,  or  dams,  across  the  river.  About  the 
middle  of  March,  a  thaw  became  general ;  and  while  the 
upper  dams  were  set  afloat  by  the  warm  weather,  the 
lower  ones,  which  were  the  largest,  and  in  which,  of 
course,  the  ice  was  most  impacted,  remained  fixed.  In 
consequence  of  this,  the  river  rose,  in  a  few  hours,  in 
many  places  above  thirty  feet ;  rolling  upon  its  surface 
large  lumps  of  ice,  from  ten  to  forty  cubic  feet  in  size. 
Nothing  could  withstand  its  fury  ;  whole  farms  were 
overwhelmed  by  the  deluge  ;  barns,  stables,  horses,  cat- 
tle, fences,  and  mills,  were  swrept  oft*,  and  carried  down 
[he  stream. — Rush. 

SWALLOW,  a  common  summer-bird  that  seeing 
ever  on  the  wing.  They  fly  in  circles,  seemingly  in 
play,  but  actually  in  pursuit  of  little  insects  of  the  air 
which  form  their  food.  When  the  weather  is  fine  these 
insects  venture  aloft,  and  the  swallows  followr  them  :  but 
when  the  air  is  filled  with  vapor  the  insects  and  their 
pursuers  fly  near  the  earth.  It  has  been  doubted  by 
some  able  naturalists,  whether  it  is  possible  for  the  swal- 
low to  live  inclosed  with  water  ana  mud.  "  I  saw  an 
instance,  says  Dr.  Williams,  which  puts  the  possibility 
of  the  fact  beyond  all  doubt.  About  the  year  1760,  two 
men  were  digging  in  the  salt  marsh  at  Cambridge,  in 
Massachusetts  ;  on  the  banks  of  the  Charles  river,  about 
two  feet  below  the  surface,  they  dug  up  a  swallow, 
wholly  surrounded  and  covered  with  mud.  The  bird 
was  in  a  torpid  state,  but  being  held  in  their  hands,  it 
revived  in  about  half  an  hour.  The  place  where  this 
swallow  was  dug  up,  was  every  day  covered  with  the 
fcalt  water  ;  which  at  every  high  tide,  was  four  or  five 
feet  deep.  The  time  when  this  swallow  was  found, 
was  the  latter  part  of  the  month  of  February."  The 
'species  of  this  bird  called  the  Chimney  Swallow,  has 
been  found  during  the  winter,  in  hollow  trees.  This 
fact  lias  been  put  beyond  all  doubt^  in  Dr. 


568  SWAN— SWEDEN. 

Haras's  history  of  Vermont  5  which  particularly  describes- 
two  swallow  trees,  the  one  at  Middlebury,  and  the  oth- 
er at  Bridgport.  In  those  trees,  the  swallows  used  to 
have  their  winter  residence  5  issuing  out  about  the  first 
of  May  like  swarms  of  bees. 

SWAN,  a  constellation  in  the  heavens.  Astronomers 
had  observed  a  new  star  in  the  heart  of  the  swan,  which 
from  time  to  time  disappeared.  In  the  year  1600,  it 
was  equal  to  a  star  of  the  first  magnitude  ;  it  greatly 
diminished  and  at  length  disappeared.  M.  Cassini  per- 
ceived it  in  1655.  It  increased  for  five  years  succes- 
sively ;  it  then  began  to  decrease,  and  re-appeared  no 
more.  In  1670,  a  new  star  wis  observed  near  the  head 
of  the  Swan.  It  disappeared,  and  became  again  visible, 
in  1672;  from  that  period,  it  was  seen  no  more  till  1709, 
and  in  1713  it  totally  disappeared. — St.  Pierre. 

SWAN,  a  large  water  fowl,  with  a  long  neck,  and  re- 
markably white  :  some  say  that  this  bird  hves  three 
hundred  years.  Swans  were  formerly  held  in  such  great 
esteem  in  England,  that,  by  an  act  of  Edward  the  fourth, 
none,  except  the  son  of  the  king,  was  permitted  to  keep 
a  swan,  unless  possessed  of  five  marks  a  year,  liy  a 
subsequent  act,  the  punishment  for  taking  their  eggs, 
was  imprisonment  for  a  year  and  a  day,  and  a  fine  at  the 
king's  will !  The  swan  is  the  most  graceful  swimmer 
in  ail  nature.  As  Milton  has  it. 


-"  it  proudly  rows  in  slate, 


With  arched  neck,  between  its  white  wings  mantling." 

Goldsmith. 

SWEDEN,  a  northern  kingdom  of  Europe  ;  border- 
ing upon  Lapland,  the  Ocean,  Russia,  the  Gulf  of  Fin- 
land, and  Norway  ;  extending  800  miles  in  length,  and 
S50  in' breadth.  In  the  early  part  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury, Sweden  was  tributary  to  Denmark.  The  Swedes 
revolted  ;  and  Christian  II.  king  of  Denmark,  who  was 
rvedly  called  the  Nero  of  the  North,  marched  a 
formidable  army  towards  Stockholm  the  capital,  in  the 
year  1528  :  and  the  city  was  burrendered  to  him.  There 


SWIMMING.  369 

lie  was  crowned  by  the  archbishop  as  king  of  Sweden, 
and  swore  to  govern  the  Swedes  with  equity  and  mild- 
ness. Soon  after  this,  the  Danish  king  having  formed 
a  scheme  for  extirpating  the  Swedish  nobility,  he  in- 
sidiously invited  the  senators  and  nobles  to  a  sumptu- 
ous entertainment  that  lasted  for  three  days.  On  the 
last  day  of  the  feast,  the  hall  was  filled  with  armed  men, 
who  secured  the  guests  ;  and  a  scaffold  was  erected 
before  the  palace  gate,  on  which  ninety-nine  distinguish- 
ed persons  were  publicly  executed  for  defending  the 
liberties  of  their  country.  In  the  mean  time  the  rage 
of  the  soldiers  was  let  loose  against  the  citizens,  who 
were  butchered  without  mercy.  Gustavus  Vasa,  a  no- 
ble young  Swede,  who  was  at  that  time  a  prisoner  in 
Denmark,  made  his  escape  from  prison  ;  and  having 
lived  a  while  in  disguise,  sometimes  among  peasants 
and  shepherds,  and  sometimes  working  for  bread  under 
ground  among  miners,  he,  at  length,  at  an  annual  festi- 
val, made  himself  known,  and  quickly  liberated  his 
countrymen,  and  avenged  their  wrongs.  Gustavus 
Yasa  was  chosen  king  of  Sweden,  and  his  posterity 
to  the  present  time  have  succeeded  to  the  Swedish 
throne. — Russell.  In  the  general  overthrow  of  the  gov- 
ernments of  Europe,  the  dynasty  of  Gustavus  was  abol- 
ished ;  and  Bernadotte,  a  general  of  the  armies  of 
France,  succeeded  to  the  throne. 

SWIMMING,  a  necessary  and  life-saving  art,  which 
is  commonly  learned  far  more  perfectly  by  savages  than 
by  civilized  people.  Some  savage  islanders  are  so  ac- 
customed to  swimming  from  their  very  infancy,  that 
the  water  seems  as  natural  to  them  as  to  fishes.  In 
Cooke's  Voyages,  it  is  related  that  a  canoe,  belonging 
to  the  Sandwich  islanders,  in  which  was  a  woman  with 
her  children,  happening  to  overset,  one  of  the  children, 
of  about  four  years  old,  appeared  to  be  highly  delighted 
with  the  incident ;  swimming  about  at  its  ease,  and  play- 
ing a  number  of  tricks,  till  the  canoe  was  brought  to  its 
former  position.  As  the  human  body  is  specifically 
lighter  than  water,  its  sinking  in  that  element  seems  to 
be  commonly  owing  to  a  wrong  position  or  wrong  man- 
agement. We  have  lately  seen  published,  the  following 
Directions  to  prevent  sinking  in  the  water.  "  If  a  per- 


:o  BWISSERLAND. 

son  fall  into  deep  water,  he  will  rise  to  the  surface  by 
iiotage,  and  continue  there,  if  he  do  not  elevate  his 
hands ;  keeping  them  down  being  essential  to  his  safe- 
ty. If  he  move  his  hands  under  the  water,  any  way  he 
pleases,  his  head  will  rise  so  high  as  to  aiiow*him  Tree 
liberty  to  breathe;  and  if,  in  addition,  he  move  his  legs 
exactly  as  in  the  action  of  walking  up  stairs,  his  shoul- 
ders will  rise  above  the  water,  so  that  he  may  use  the 
less  exertion  \v  ith  his  hands,  or  apply  them  to  other  pur- 
poses." In  some  desperate  cases  it  is  necessary  for 
persons  to  plunge  into  the  surf  or  swell  of  the  sea  on 
the  coasts  :  here  skill  is  to  be  used.  This  surf  is  com- 
posed of  a  number  of  waves,  driving  towards  the  shore  ; 
of  which  every  third  wave  is  observed  to  be  considera- 
bly larger  than  the  rest,  and  to  flow  higher  up  on  the 
land  :  while  the  others  break  in  the  intermediate  spaces. 
Accordingly,  expert  swimmers,  aiming  at  the  shore  in  a 
high  surf,  make  it  their  first  object  to  place  themselves 
on  the  top  of  the  largest  surge,  which  drives  them  along 
with  astonishing  rapidity. 

SWISSERLAND,  a  country  in  Europe  ;  extending 
one  hundred  and  eighty  miles  in  length,  and  one  hun- 
dred and  forty  in  breadth  ;  bounded  by  the  Tyrolese  and 
Austrian  Swabia,  by  Savoy  and  Italy,  and  by  France.  It 
is  the  highest  land  in  Europe  ;  and  some  of  the  princi- 
pal rivers  of  that  continent  have  their  sources  here.  It 
abounds  with  lofty  mountains  and  frightful  precipices, 
composed  of  rocks  piled  on  rocks,  some  of  them  to  the 
height  of  more  than  ten  thousand  feet.  The  Swiss,  for- 
tified by  their  natural  situation,  amidst  stupendous 
mountains  and  torrents,  had  been  free  from  tiine  imme- 
morial ;  and  when  any  of  their  nobility  attempted  to  ty- 
rannize, they  were  either  altogether  expelled,  or  reduced 
within  bounds  by  the  people.  But  although  they  were 
extremely  jealous  of  their  liberties,  they  had  always 
been  submissive  to  the  German  empire,  whose  empe- 
rors had  treated  them  with  paternal  indulgence,  ac- 
knowledging and  defending  their  rights.  It  was  about 
the  beginning  of  the  fourteenth  century,  when  Albert, 
emperor  of  Germany,  attempted  to  govern  the  Swiss  as 
an  absolute  sovereign.  He  sent  governors  to  tyrannize 
over  them  ;  one  of  these  governors,  named  Goisler,  or- 


SWORD  FISH— SYMPATHETIC  INK.    37i 

tiered  his  hat  to  be  placed  on  a  pole  in  the  market-place  : 
and  every  passenger  was  commanded,  on  pain  of  death, 
to  pay  obeisance  to  it.  William  Tell,  a  noble  minded 
Swiss,  refused  to  pay  this  absurd  homage,  and  the  gov- 
ernor ordered  him  to  be  hanged  ;  but  remitted  the  pun- 
ishment on  condition  that  he  should  strike  an  apple 
from  the  head  of  his  son,  with  an  arrow.  Tell  struck 
oft"  the  apple  without  hurting  his  son.  Geisler  then  per- 
ceiving another  arrow  under  this  marksman's  coat,  en- 
quired for  what  purpose  that  was  intended.  "  It  was 
designed  for  thee  (replied  the  Swiss)  if  1  had  had  the  mis- 
fortune to  have  killed  my  son."  A  general  revolt  imme- 
diately ensued ;  and  the  swiss  established  their  freedom ; 
which  they  purchased  by  above  sixty  battles  against  the 
Austrians.  In  the  year  1797,  these  people,  for  so  many 
centuries  safe  and  independent,  were  conquered  hy  the 
French  republicans  ;  who,  according  to  Mallet  du  Pan, 
destroyed  in  Swisserlaml  one  hundred  and  thirty-three 
villages,  and  seventeen  towns. 

SWORD-FISH,  an  animal  of  the  deep,  that  lias  a 
beak,  sharp,  and  pointed  like  a  sword  :  it  is  the  whale's 
most  terrible  enemy.  At  the  sight  of  this  little  animal 
the  whale  seems  agitated,  in  a  most  extraordinary  man- 
ner leaping  from  the  water  as  if  in  affright  :  whenev- 
er it  appears  the  whale  perceives  it  at  a  distance,  and 
flies  from  it  in  the  opposite  direction.  The  whale  has 
no  instrument  of  defence  except  the  tail  ;  with  that  it 
endeavors  to  strike  the  enemy  ;  and  a  single  effectual 
blow  would  destroy  it.  But  the  sword  fish  is  as  active 
as  the  other  is  strong,  arid  easily  avoids  the  stroke  ;  then 
bounding  into  the  air,  it  falls  upon  its  great  subjacent 
enemy  and  endeavors  not  to  pierce  with  its  pointed  beak, 
but  to  cut  with  its  toothed  edges.  The  sea  all  about  is 
seen  dyed  with  blood,  proceeding  from  the  wounds  of 
the  whale. — Anderson. 

SYMPATHETIC  INK,  a  kind  of  ink  or  paint  which 
has  this  singular  property,  that  it  will  appear  when 
brought  near  the  fire,  and  disappear  when  withdrawn 
from  it.  To  make  this  ink,  take  Zaffre,  or  Regulus  of 
Cobalt,  as  sold  by  the  druggists,  and  digest  it  in  aqua 
regia  $  which  solution  must  be  diluted  by  a  little  com- 


372  SYRIA. 

inon  water,  to  prevent  it  from  making  too  strong  on  im- 
pression on  the  paper  ;  the  colour,  when  the  paper  is 
heated,  becomes  a  fine  green-blue.  If  Zaffire,  or  Reg- 
ulus  of  Cobalt,  be  dissolved  in  the  same  manner  in  spi- 
rit of  nitre,  or  aqua-fortis,  a  reddish  colour  is  produced 
on  exposing  the  paper  to  heat :  these  colours  vanish  on 
their  being  withdrawn  from  the  fire,  unless  the  heat  has 
been  too  great.  Fire-screens  have  been  thus  painted, 
which,  in  the  cold,  have  shown  only  the  trunk  and 
branches  of  a  dead  tree,  together  with  a  sandy  hill ;  but 
on  approaching  the  fire,  the  dead  tree  puts  forth  green 
leaves  and  red  flowers,  and  the  sandy  hill  appears  cov- 
ered with  verdant  grass.  Sympathetic  ink  has  been 
used  in  secret  correspondence  ;  and  is  said  to  have  been 
used  by  General  Washington,  during  the  American 
War. 

SYRIA,  a  country  of  Turkey,  in  Asia,  bordering  on 
Palestine  or  the  Holy  Land.  Syria  has  suffered  a  suc- 
cession of  most  terrible  revolutions,  occasioned  by  the 
invasions  and  ravages  of  foreign  nations.  The  Assyrians 
of  Nineveh  obtained  the  possession  of  almost  the  whole 
of  this  country,  about  seven  hundred  and  fifty  years  be- 
fore the  Christian  era.  Next  the  Chaldeans,  or  Babylon- 
ians, having  broken  the  power  of  the  Assyrian  empire, 
completed  me  conquest  of  Syria,  except  only  the  isle  of 
Tyre.  The  Chaldeans  were  followed  by  the  Persians, 
under  Cyrus  ;  and  the  Persians  by  the"  Macedonians, 
under  Alexander.  The  Macedonian  power  being  at 
length  broken,  Syria  yielded  to  the  arms  of  Pompey,  and 
became  a  province  ot  the  Roman  empire.  Five  centu- 
ries after  it  was  annexed  to  the  empire  of  Constantino- 
ple ;  and  such  continued  its  situation,  till  in  the  year 
622  the  Arabians  seized  it,  and  laid  it  waste.  Since  that 
period,  after  having  been  torn  to  pieces  by  civil  wars, 
invaded  by  the  European  crusaders,  and  ravaged  by  the 
Tartars,  under  Tameilane,  it  at  length  fell  into  the 
hands  of  the  Turks,  who  have  been  its  masters  for  al- 
most three  hundred  years.  Even  now  the  insecurity  of 
the  Syrians  discourages  them  from  sowing  and  cultivat- 
ing their  fields  ;  as  bands  of  Arabian  robbers  often  rush 
iu  and  bear  oft'  their  harvests. —  Volney. 


TALIPOT— TALLOW  TREE— TAPIER.      373 
T. 

JL  ALIPOT,  a  remarkable  tree  that  grows  in  the 
greatest  luxuriance  in  the  island  of  Ceylon.  Robert 
Knox,  who  is  said  to  have  given  th«  best  account  extant 
of  Ceylon,  tells  us,  that  one  of  the  leaves  of  the  talipot 
is  capable  of  covering  ten  persons.  When  it  is  dry, 
continues  he,  it  is  at  once  strong  and  pliant,  so  that  you 
may  fold  and  unfold  it  at  pleasure,  being  naturally  plait- 
ed like  a  fan.  In  this  state  it  is  not  bigger  than  a  man's 
arm,  and  extremely  light.  The  natives  cut  it  into  tri- 
angles, though  it  is  naturally  round,  and  each  of  them 
carries  one  of  those  sections  over  his  head,  holding  the 
angular  part  before,  in  his  hand,  to  open  for  himself  a 
passage  through  the  bushes.  The  soldiers  use  this  leaf 
as  a  covering  to  their  tent§.  They  consider  it,  and  with 
good  reason,  as  one  of  the  greatest  blessings  of  Provi- 
dence, in  a  country  burnt  up  by  the  sun,  and  inundated 
by  the  rains,  for  six  months  of  the  year. — St.  Pierre. 

TALLOW  TREE,  an  extraordinary  tree  that  grows 
in  China.  It  is  of  the  size  of  a  cherry  tree  ;  its  branch- 
es are  crooked  ;  its  leaves  are  shaped  like  a  heart,  and 
of  a  bright  red  colour  ;  it  has  a  smooth  bark,  a  short 
trunk,  and  a  round  bushy  top.  Th-e  fruit  is  contained  in 
a  husk  when  it  is  ripe,  and  discovers  three  white  grainy 
of  the  size  of  a  small  walnut.  In  each  of  these  is  a  stone, 
and  the  pulp  with  which  these  stones  are  covered,  has 
all  the  properties  of  tallow,  and  its  colour,  smell,  and 
consistence,  are  exactly  the  same.  The  Chinese  make 
candles  of  it,  mixing  it  only  with  a  little  linseed-oil,  to 
render  it  softer  and  sweeten — -Winterbotham. 

TAPIER,  an  animal  that  inhabits  the  woods  and  riv- 
ers on  the  eastern  side  of  South  America,  from  the 
Isthmus  of  Darien  to  the  river  of  the  Amazons.  It  is 
a  solitary  animal,  sleeps  during  the  day,  and  goes  out  in 
the  night  in  search  01  food  :  it  lives  on  ^rass,  sugar- 
cane, and  fruits.  If  disturbed  it  takes  to  the  water, 
swims  with  great  ease,  or  plunges  to  the  bottom,  and, 
like  the  hippopotamus,  or  river  horse,  walks  there  as  on 
dry  ground.  It  is  about  the  size  of  a  small  cow  $  its 
fio-se  is  long  and  slender,  and  extends  far  beyond  the 
Hh 


374  TARTARY— -TAURUS— .TEAS. 

lower  jaw,  forming  a  kind  of  proboscis.  It  ha?  an  arch- 
ed back,  short  legs,  four  hoofs  on  each  foot,  a  small  tail, 
short  hair,  arid  is  of  a  dusky  brown  colour.  It  is  an  in- 
offensive timid  animal.  The  Indians  make  bucklers  of 
its  skin,  which  is  very  thick  and  hard. — Winterbotham. 

TARTARY,  a  vast  country  of  Asia  ;  lying  between 
the  Frozen  Ocean,  Persia,  Hindostan,  and  China.  From 
Tartary  have  issued  the  Turks  and  other  hordes  of  seini- 
savages,  which  have  made  Asia  and  Europe  tremble. 
In  the  early  part  of  the  thirteenth  century  Genghis- 
Kan,  at  the  head  of  the  Moguls,  or  western  Tartars,  ex- 
tended his  dominions,  in  a  few  years,  from  a  small  ter- 
ritory to  more  than  eighteen  hundred  leagues,  from  east 
to  west,  and  above  a  thousand  from  north  to  south.  He 
conquered  Persia,  and  pushed  his  conquests  as  far  as 
the  Euphrates;  subdued  Hindostan,  and  a  great  part  of 
China,  and  the  frontier  provinces  of  Russia. — Russell. 

TAURUS,  a  vast  chain  of  mountains,  running  through 
Africa  and  Asia.  The  chain  of  mountains  known  by 
the  names  of  Taurus  and  Imaus,  commences  in  Africa, 
at  Mount  Atlas,  toward  the  thirtieth  degree  of  north- 
ern latitude.  It  runs  across  all  Africa  and  all  Asia,  be- 
tween the  thirty-eighth  and  fortieth  degree  of  north  lati- 
tude 5  having  its  summit  covered,  for  the  most  part, 
through  that  immense  extent,  with  snows  that  never 
melt.  Mount  Ararat,  which  makes  part  of  this  chain, 
is,  perhaps,  more  elevated  than  any  mountain  of  the 
New  World,  if  we  form  a  judgment  from  the  time 
which  Tournefort,  and  other  travellers,  took  to  perform 
the  distance  from  the  basis  of  that  mountain,  up  to  the 
commencement  of  the  snow  which  covers  its  summit; 
and  which  is  more  conclusive,  from  the  distance  at 
which  it  may  be  seen,  and  that  is,  at  least,  six  days  jour- 
ney of  a  caravan. — St.  Pierre. 

TEAS.  The  teas  of  China  are  of  the  following  kinds  : 
The  Song-lo  tea,  being  the  same  which  we  call  Gr?en 
tea,  takes  its  name  from  the  mountain  Song-lo,  which  is 
entirely  covered  with  the  shrubs  that  produce  this  kind 
of  tea.  It  is  cultivated  almost  like  vines,  and  is  crop- 
ped at  a  certain  height,  to  prevent  it  from  growing.  The 


TEMPERATE  ZONES— TENERIPF.       373 

flower  which  it  bears  is  white,  and  shaped  like  a  small 
ruse  composed  of  live  leaves.  The  Von-y  tea,  being 
the  same  that  is  known  in  Europe  and  America  by  the 
names  of  Bohea  and  Souchong,  takes  its  name  from  a 
mountain,  in  China,  called  Vou-y.  This  is  the  tea  the 
in  Oat  esteemed  throughout  the  Chinese  empire ;  as 
u<>reein«;  better  with  the  stomach,  being  in  their  estima- 
tion lighter,  sweeter,  and  more  delicate  to  the  taste  than 
the  Son^-lo  or-  Green  tea.  The  Imperial  tea,  which  is 
called  by  the  Chinese  Mao  tcha,  contains  only  the  ten- 
der leaves  of  the  shrub.  This  is  the  most  delicate  of 
all  the  teas,  and  is  that  which  is  transported  to  court  for 
the  use  of  the  emperor.  It  is  seldom  ever  distributed 
but  in  presents ;  but  it  may  sometimes  be  bought  on  the 
spot  where  it  grows  for  twenty  pence  or  two  shillings 
the  pound . — Winterbotham. 

TEMPERATE  ZONES,  the  spaces  contained  be- 
tween the  tropics  and  polar  circles  ;  or  all  those  parts 
of  the  terraqueous  globe  which  lie  between  the  latitudes 
23°  SS'  and  66°  32',  both  in  the  northern  and  southern 
hemisphere.  The  southern  temperate  zone  is  mostly 
ocean  :  it  contains  no  known  country  except  the  south 
part  of  New-Holland  and  the  southernmost  parts  of 
Africa  and  of  South  America.  The  northern  temperate 
zone  comprehends  almost  all  Europe,  the  greatest  part 
of  Asia,  part  of  Africa,  particularly  Egypt  and  Barbary, 
the  United  States  of  America,  the  British  colonies,  tlie 
Florid  as,  Louisiana,  California,  and  a  large  part  of  Mex- 
ico. History  informs  us  of  no  nation  south  of  the  equa- 
tor, that  had  ever  risen  to  great  eminence  in  the  arts 
and  sciences.  The  Peruvians  who  were  the  most  dis- 
tinguished in  the  whole  southern  hemisphere  for  civil- 
ization and  improvements,  had  no  knowledge  of  the 
manufacture  and  use  of  iron  ;  consequently  their  im- 
provements in  arts  must  have  been  comparatively 
small.  The  tropical  climates,  as  well  as  the  polar  re- 
dons,  are  unfavorable  to  the  full  growth  either  of  the 
human  body  or  mind.  It  is  in  the  northern  temperate 
zone  that  the  arts  have  chiefly  flourished,  and  the  great- 
est men  and  most  powerful  nations  been  produced. 

TENERIFF,  one  of  the  Canary  Islands,    The  raoun- 


3f6    TENNESSEE— THIBET— THORN  PLANT. 

tain  in  this  island,  called  the  Peak,  is  fifteen  thousand 
three-  hundred  and  ninety-six  feet  above  the  level  of  the 
sea,  and  may  be  seen  one  hundred  and  twenty  miles,  in 
a  clear  day.  Smoke  continually  issues  from  near  the 
top  of  the  Peak,  which  is  a  volcano  ;  but  they  have 
had  no  eruption  since  1704,  when  the  port  of  Garrachia 
was  destroyed,  being  filled  up  by  the  rivers  of  burning 
lava  that  flowed  into  it ;  and  nouses  are  now  built  where 
ships  formerly  lay  at  anchor.  This  vast  mountain,  cov- 
ered with  ice.  is  situated  directly  opposite  to  the  great 
sandy  desart,  in  Africa,  called  Sahara,  and  contributes, 
undoubtedly,  to  refresh  the  shores  and  atmosphere  of 
it,  by  the  effusion  of  its  snows,  which  takes  place  even 
in  the  midst  of  summer.  Mouat  Atlas  is  also  placed  as 
a  cooler  of  that  burning  desart }  as  also  Mount  Ida,  in 
the  island  of  Crete,  is  aptly  situated  for  cooling  the  at- 
mosphere of  the  desart  of  Barca,  which  coasts  along- 
Egypt  from  north  to  south.- CooAreV  Voyages,  St.  Pierre* 

TENNESSEE,  one  of  the  United  States  of  America  ; 
360  miles  in  length,  and  100  miles  in  breadth ;  lying  be- 
tween 35°  and  36°  north  latitude  ;  bounded  east  by 
North  Carolina  ;  north  by  Virginia  and  Kentucky  ;  west 
by  the  Mississippi,  and  south  by  the  Mississippi  territory, 
Georgia,  and  teouth  Carolina,  Knoxville  is  its  capital. 
Tennessee  was  erected  into  an  independent  state,  and 
received  into  the  union,  in  1796. 

THIBET,  a  large  country  of  Asia,  bordering  upon 
China  and  Hindostan.  It  is  one  of  the  most  elevated 
countries  in  Asia  5  and  gives  rise  to  some  of  the  rivers 
not  only  in  China  and  Hindostan,  but  also  of  Siberia  and 
Tartary.  The  Thibetians  have  a  profound  veneration 
for  the  cow,  and  also  for  the  waters  of  the  Ganges,  be- 
lieving the  source  of  that  river  to  be  from  heaven.  They 
pay  religious  homage  to  their  Grand  Lama,  as  to  a  di- 
vinity. See  LAMAS. 

THORN  PLANT,  a  plant  used  for  hedges.  The 
European  method  of  raising  quicks  from  thorn  is  as  fol- 
lows. Gather  the  haws  when  full  ripe,  perhaps  in  the 
month  of  November  ;  dig  a  hole  in  a  dry  hill,  trom  two 
to  three  .feet  deep  $  put  in  the  bottom  a  layer  of  dry 


TIDE.  srr 

straw  ;  throw  your  haws  upon  the  straw  and  cover 
them  with  the  same  5  then  fill  in  the  earth,  and  do  it  up 
neatly,  so  as  to  prevent  the  water  soaking  to  them.  Take 
them  up  in  March  or  April,  and  sow  them  in  beds  of 
well  prepared  ground,  nearly  in  the  same  manner  as 
parsnips  are  sowed,  leaving  a  sufficient  space  between 
for  a  person  to  pass  to  weed  them.  They  will  come  up 
as  soon  as  any  garden  seeds  ;  and,  if  kept  clean  and 
weeded,  may  be  transplanted  into  hedges  in  two  years. 
— American  Museum. 

TIDE,  the  periodical  rising  and  falling  of  the  water 
of  the  sea.  The  water  of  the  sea  flows  about  six  hours 
from  south  to  north  ;  during  which  period  it  gradually 
swells,  so  that  it  enters  the  mouths  of  rivers,  and  coun- 
teracts the  natural  current  from  their  sources.  It  then 
remains  stationary  for  about  a  quarter  of  an  hour  ;  after 
which  it  ebbs  for  six  hours,  and  then  again  remains,  for 
a  quarter  of  an  hour  stationary.  If  the  moon  be  in  the 
iirst  and  third  quarters,  or  when  it  is  new  a.ndfull9  the 
tides  are  high  and  swift,  being  then  called  spring-tides  ; 
on  the  contrary,  when  that  luminary  is  in  the  second  and 
last  quarter,  they  neither  rise  so  high,  nor  flow  with 
such  rapidity  ;  and  are  termed  neap-tides.  In  open 
seas  the  tides  rise  to  a  very  small  height  in  proportion 
to  what  they  do  in  wide -mouthed  rivers,  opening  in  the 
direction  of  the  stream  of  the  tide.  For  in  channels 
growing  narrower  gradually,  the  water  is  accumulated 
by  the  opposition  of  the  converging  banks.  Some 
rivers,  creeks,  and  bays,  are  so  situated  as  to  raise  the 
tide-waters  into  mountains  :  thus,  in  the  Bay  of  Fundy, 
the  tide  rises  from  forty  to  sixty  feet.  The  ancient 
Grecians  were  ignorant  of  the  phenomena  of  tides  $ 
inasmuch  as  their  navigation  did  not  extend  beyond 
the  Mediterranean,  which  has  no  tide.  Therefore, 
when  Alexander,  after  his  conquest  of  Persia,  sailed 
down  the  river  Indus  in  order  to  see  the  ocean,  its 
ebbing  and  flowing  terrified  his  pilots.  The  principal 
cause  of  the  tides  is  believed  to  be  the  attraction  of  the 
moon.  The  honor  of  discovering  this  cause  has  been 
attributed  to  Kelper ;  yet  Cicero,  more  than  seventeen 
hundred  years  before,  imputed  the  ebbing  and  flowing 
of  the  tide  to  the  moon's  influence.  Some  moderns* 
II  h  2 


378  TIGER. 

among  whom  is  Bernardino  St.  Pierre,  attribute  the. 
tides  to  the  liquification  of  the  snow  and  ice  in  the 
polar  regions;  but  this  is  generally  thought  to  be  a 
visionary  theory.  Why  there  is  no  tide  in  the  Mediter- 
ranean, Lake  Superior,  and  some  other  vast  bodies  of 
water,  is  hard  to  explain  on  the  commonly  received 
principles  of  gravitation  or  attraction. 

TIGEH,  a  most  ferocious  and  terrible  animal  of  the 
cat -hind.  Goldsmith  remarks  that  a  cat,  magnified  in 
imagination  to  the  size  of  several  hundred  pounds 
weight,  would  give  a  perfect  idea  of  the  form  and  ap- 
pearance of  a  tiger.  The  skin  is  of  a  darkish  yellow 
colour,  striped  with  long  black  streaks ;  the  hair  is 
short,  excepting  on  the  sides  of  the  head,  where  it  is 
about  four  inches  long;  the  point  of  the  tail  is  black, 
and  the  rest  of  it  is  interspersed  with  black  rings.  The 
woods  of  Sondry  in  the  East-Indies,  are  famous  for  the 
enormous  size  of  the  tigers  which  aie  found  there,  and 
with  which  they  are  filled.  This  species  are  called  the 
Royal  Tiger.  These  animals  are  extremely  formidable 
by  their  strength  and  activity :  some  of  them  are  as 
large  as  oxen.  They  are  so  eager  and  ferocious  in 
pursuit  of  their  prey,  that  they  have  been  known  to 
throw  themselves  into  the  water,  and  swim  to  attack 
boats  on  the  river  Ganges.  About  the  year  1790, 
twelve  men  landed  on  the  shore  of  the  Ganges  from 
the  vessel  of  M.  Graudpre,  in  order  to  take  in  some 
dry  wood.  They  were  at  the  distance  of  about  three 
hundred  yards  from  the  vessel,  and  had  scarcely  begun 
their  work,  when  we  saw  them  (says  Grandpre)  run- 
ning to  the  water  side  with  the  strongest  marks  of  ter- 
ror. They  were  pursued  by  a  small  tiger  of  the  size  of 
a  common  calf;  which  rushed  out  of  the  woods,  seized 
riie  hindmost  of  these  men,  and  carried  him  off  in  an 
instant.  The  following  instance  of  escape  from  the 
fangs  of  this  dreadful  animal,  is  very  remarkable.  "I 
was  infornimed  (says  Mr.  Pennant)  by  very  good  au- 
thority, that  in  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
some  gentlemen  and  ladies  being  on  a  party  of  plea- 
sure, under  a  shade  of  trees,  on  the  banks  of  a  river  in 
Bengal,  observed  a  tiger  preparing  for  its  fatal  spring  j 
\vhen  one  of  the  ladies,  with  amazing  presence  of  mind. 


TIGRIS— TIN— .TOBACCO.  379 

laid  hold  of  an  umbrella,  and  furled  it  full  in  the  face 
of  the  animal,  which  instantly  retired,  and  gave  the 
company  an  opportunity  of  removing  from  so  terrible  a 
neighbor." 

TIGRIS,  a  river  of  Turkey,  in  Asia,  which  rises  in 
or  near  Mount  Ararat,  and,  uniting  with  the  Euphrates, 
about  twenty  leagues  from  its  mouth,  empties  into  the 
Persian  Gulf.  Ancient  Nineveh  stood  on  its  banks, 
and  Babylon  at  no  great  distance  from  its  waters.  Be- 
tween the  Tigris  and  the  Euphrates,  near  their  junc- 
tion, (which  is  at  about  33°  or  34°  north  latitude)  many 
suppose  the  garden  of  Eden  to  have  been  situated.  Of 
all  the  streams  of  the  east  this  is  the  most  rapid  ;  it  is 
named  Tigris  by  reason  of  its  prodigious  rapidity ;  an 
arrow  being  so  called  in  the  Persian  tongue.  There 
are  shallows  in  this  river.  Alexander  with  his  cavalry, 
passed  it  on  horseback,  the  water  coming  up  to  the 
horses'  breasts. — Rollin. 

TIN,  one  of  the  imperfect  metals,  being  the  lightest 
and  most  fusible  of  all  metals.  It  is  of  a  greyish  white, 
and  is  remarkably  malleable.  It  unites  with  copper, 
forming  the  compositions  known  under  the  names  of 
Bronze,  and  Bell-metal  ;  and  by  immersing  thin  plates 
of  iron  into  melted  tin,  they  become  coated,  and  are 
then  termed  Block-tin,  which  is  manufactured  into  tea- 
canisters,  and  various  kitchen  utensils.  Tin  is  obtained 
principally  from  Cornwall,  in  England,  where  it  is 
sometimes  dug  up  in  a  native  or  pure  state,  though 
more  frequently  mixed  with  a  large  proportion  of  arse- 
nic, sulphur,  and  iron.  Anderson  says,  in  his  history 
of  commerce,  that  tin  mines  have  no  where  been  found 
but  in  the  British  island  ;  and  that  the  Phenicians,  or* 
Canaanites,  resorted  to  the  coasts  of  Cornwall  in  Eng- 
land, for  tin,  probably  as  early  as  the  times  of  Joshua. 
We  read,  in  the  sacred  writings,  that  the  Hebrews 
had  tin,  in  Joshua's  time  ;  which  in  all  probability,  they 
had  taken,  as  a  prey,  from  the  Canaanites. 

TOBACCO,  a  plant  greatly  in  use,  which  was  first 
found  among  the  natives  of  America.  In  the  year 
1534,  James  Cartier^  a  Frenchman,  was  commissioned 


S80          TQ&BERONGS— TOMBUCTOO; 

to  explore  the  coasts  of  North  America,  with  a  view 
to  find  a  place  for  a  colony.  He  observed  that  the 
natives  of  Canada  used  the  leaves  of  an  herb  which 
they  preserved  in  pouches  made  of  skins,  and  smoked 
in  stone  pipes.  It  being  very  offensive  to  the  French, 
they  took  none  of  it  with  them  on  their  return.  Ralph 
Lane,  at  his  retun  in  1586,  carried  it  first  into  Europe  ; 
and  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  who  was  a  man  of  gaiety  and 
fashion,  not  only  learned  the  use  of  it  himself,  but  in- 
troduced it  into  the  polite  circles.  It  is  related  that  a 
servant  of  Sir  Walter,  bringing  a  tankard  of  ale  into 
his  study  as  he  was  smoking  his  pipe  and  reading,  was 
^0  alarmed  at  .the  appearance  of  smoke  issuing  out  of 
his  mouth,  that  he  threw  the  ale  into  his  face,  and  run 
to  alarm  the  family,  crying  out  that  his  master  was  on 
fire. — Bdknctp. 

TOMBERONGS,  a  species  of  bread-fruit,  in  the 
interior  of  Africa.  They  are  small  mealy  berries  of  a 
yellow  colour  and  delicious  taste.  These  berries  are 
much  esteemed  by  the  natives,  who  convert  them  into 
a  sort  of  bread,  by  exposing  them  for  some  days  to  the 
sun.  and  afterwards  pounding  them  gently  in  a  wooden 
mortar,  until  the  mealy  part  of  the  berry  is  separated 
from  the  stone.  This  meal  is  then  mixed  with  a  little 
water  and  formed  into  cakes  ;  which,  when  dried  in  the 
sun,  resemble  in  colour  and  flavor  the  sweetest  ginger- 
bread. The  stones  are  afterwards  put  into  a  vessel  of 
water,  and  shaken  about  so  as  to  separate  the  meal 
which  n-ay  still  adhere  to  them  :  this  communicates 
a  sweet  and  agreeable  taste  to  the  water,  and,  with  the 
addition  of  a  little  poundetl  millet,  forms  a  pleasant 
gruel,  which  makes  a  common  breakfast  during  the 
months  of  February  and  March. — Park. 

TOMBUCTOO,  the  capital  of  a  kingdom  of  the 
same  name  in  Negroland.  This  is  a  large  and  wealthy 
commercial  and  manufacturing  city,  situated  south-east 
of  the  great  desart  of  Sahara,  and  near  the  river  Niger, 
Tombuctoo  is  reckoned  the  mart  of  the  Mandingo 
gold  :  whence  it  is  distributed  over  the  northern  parts 
of  Africa,  by  the  merchants  of  Tunis,  Tripoli,  Fez,  and 
Morocco,  all  of  whom  resort  to  Tvmfructoo,  Most  of 


TONQUIN— TORMENTIL.  381 

this  gold,  no  doubt,  afterwards  finds  its  way  into  Eu- 
rope. The  kingdom  of  Tombuctoo  is  so  powerful,  that 
in  the  year  1540,  the  prince  of  that  country  met  the 
emperor  of  Morocco  with  three  hundred  thousand  men, 
and  drove  him  across  the  desart. — Kennel. 

TONQUIN,  a  kingdom  of  Asia  ;  bounded  on  the 
north  by  China,  and  "extending  about  three  hundred 
and  fifty  miles  in  length,  and  two  hundred  and  twenty 
in  its  greatest  breadth.  The  soil  is  excellent,  the  cli- 
mate is  of  a  mild  temperature,  the  country  is  thick  set 
with  villages,  and  has  a  great  trade,  which  is  carried  on 
chiefly  by  the  Chinese,  English,  and  Dutch.  The  Ton- 
quinese  are  of  a  middling  stature  and  tawny  complex- 
ion :  their  faces  are  oval,  their  hair  is  black,  long,  lank, 
and  coarse,  and  hangs  down  their  backs.  They  are  at 
great  pains  to  dye  their  teeth  black.  They  buy  all 
their  wives,  and  In  hard  times  the  men  will  sell  both 
their  wives  and  children,  to  purchase  rice  to  maintain 
themselves.  They  are  so  addicted  to  gaming,  that? 
when  every  thing  is  lost,  they  will  stake  their  wives 
and  children.  The  Christian  religion  was  planted  here 
in  1626,  by  the  Jesuit  Baldinoti ;  and  in  1639,  there 
were  eighty  thousand  converts,  who  had  built  two 
hundred  churches  at  their  own  charge  :  it  was  utterly 
proscribed  however,  in  1722,  after  several  dreadful 
persecutions,  attended  with  the  imprisonment,  torture, 
and  death  of  the  missionaries  and  their  disciples. — » 
Walker. 

TORMENTIL,  a  common  plant  sometimes  called 
septfoil.  This  plant,  and  also  the  great  bistort,  or  snake 
weed,  were  found  by  the  Prussian  chymist  Hermbstadt 
to  be  far  preferable  to  oak  bark  for  tanning.  One 
pound  and  an  half  of  tormentil,  or  three  pounds  of  bis- 
tort, will  tan  a  pound  of  dry  hide,  which  requires  seven 
pounds  of  oak  bark.  Mr.  Yolger  has  discovered  a 
method  of  making,  by  means  of  this  vegetable,  a  fine 
black  ink,  which  has  the  smell  of  roses.  In  an  earthern. 
vessel  he  boils  seven  ounces  of  rain  water,  with  an 
ounce  and  an  half  of  dried  tormentil  roots.  When  it 
has  boiled  sufficiently  he  pours  oft* the  liquid,  and  adds 
ro  it  a  solution  of  three  drams  of  copperas,  and  one  dram 


38S    TORNADO— TORPEDO— TORRID  ZONE. 

of  gum-arabic  ;  he  then  stirs  the  whole  with  a  stick  j 
\V!K-II  it  has  grown  cold,  the  ink  is  ready  for  use,-— 
•American  Museum. 

TORNADO,  a  hurricane  of  the  whirlwind  kind. — 
The  winds,  in  a  tornado,  seem  to  blow  from  ever/ 
quarter,  and  settle  upon  one  distinct  place,  with  such 
fury,  that  nothing  can  resist  their  vehemence.  When 
they  have  all  met  in  their  central  spot,  the  whirlwind 
begins  with  circular  rapidity.  The  sphere  every  mo- 
ment widens  as  it  continues  to  turn,  and  catches  every 
object  that  lies  within  its  attraction.  This  is  preceded 
by  a  flattering  calm  :  the  air  is  every  where  hushed  ; 
and  the  sea  is  as  smooth  as  polished  glass.  All  along 
the  coasts  of  Guinea,  beginning  about  two  degrees 
north  of  the  lina  and  so  downwards,  lengthwise,  far 
about  a  thousand  miles  and  as  many  broad,  the  ocean 
is  unnavigable,  on  account  of  these  tornadoes. — Gold' 
sndtk. 

^  TORPEDO,  a  fish  that  gives  to  those  who  touch  it  a 
kind  of  electric  shock.  The  body  of  this  fish  is  almost 
circular  ;  the  skin  is  soft,  smooth,  and  of  a  yellowish 
colour,  marked  with  large  annular  spots  5  the  tail  taper- 
ing to  a  point.  Such  is  that  unaccountable  power  it 
possesses,  that,  the  instant  it  is  touched,  it  numbs  not 
only  the  hand  and  arm,  but  sometimes  also  the  whole 
body.  The  shock  received  most  resembles  the  stroke 
of  an  electrical  machine ;  sudden,  tingling,  and  painful. 
Even  if  one  treads  upon  it  with  the  shoe  on,  it  affects 
not  only  the  leg,  but  the  whole  thigh  upwards.  The 
nerves  are  so  affected,  that  the  person  struck  imagines 
all  the  bones  of  his  body,  and  particularly  those  of  the 
limb  that  received  the  "blow,  are  driven  out  of  joint. 
All  this  is  accompanied  with  an  universal  tremor,  a 
sickness  of  the  stomach,  a  general  convulsion,  and  a 
universal  suspension  of  the  faculties  of  the  mind. — 
Goldsmith. 

TORRID  ZONE,  that  portion. of  the  earth  over 
every  part  of  which  the  SUM  is  vertical,  or  perpendicu- 
lar, at  some  time  of  the  year.  It  extends  from  twenty- 
three  degrees  and  twenty-eight  minutes  north  latitude 


TRAFALGAR.  383 

to  twenty-three  degrees  and  twenty-eight  minutes  south. 
This  zone  comprehends  the  East  and  West-Indies,  the 
Philippine  islands,  the  greater  part  of  South  America 
and  Africa,  and  almost  all  Captain  Cooke's  discoveries, 
including  the  northern  parts  of  New  Holland.  In  or- 
der to  prevent  its  being  burnt  up  by  the  rays  of  the  sun. 
Providence  has  placed  in  the  torrid  zone,  the  largest 
diameter  of  the  South  Sea,  and  the  greatest  breadth  of 
the  Atlantic  Ocean  ;  and  there  it  has  collected  the 

freatest  quantity  of  islands  in  existence.  Farther,  it 
as  planted  in  the  breadth  of  the  continents,  the  great- 
est bodies  of  running  water  that  are  in  the  world,  all 
issuing  from  mountains  of  ice  ;  such  as  the  Senegal  and 
the  Nile,  which  issue  from  the  mountains  of  the  Moon 
in  Africa  ;  the  Amazon  and  Oronoko,  which  have  their 
sources  in  the  Andes.  Again,  it  is  for  this  reasan  that 
Providence  has  multiplied  in  the  torrid  zone,  and  in  its 
vicinity,  lofty  chains  of  mountains  covered  with  snow, 
and  that  it  directs  thither  the  winds  of  the  north  pole 
and  of  the  south  pole,  of  which  the  trade  winds  Always 
partake. — St.  Pierre. 

TRAFALGAR,  a  Cape  of  Spain,  at  the  entrance  of 
the  Straits  of  Gibraltar.  It  was  off  this  Cape  the  me- 
morable battle  was  fought,  October  21,  1805,  between 
the  British  fleet,  commanded  by  Lord  Nelson,  and  the 
combined  ileets  of  France  and  Spain,  under  the  com- 
mand of  Admirals  Villeneuve  and  Gravina  ;  when  Lord 
Nelson  fell  in  the  arms  of  victory.  The  fortune  of  the 
day  being  nearly  decided,  his  lordship  was  standing  011 
the  quarter  deck  of  his  ship,  moving  the  stump  of  his 
right  arm  up  and  down  with  great  rapidity,  as  was  his 
custom  when  much  pleased.  Captain  Hardie,  stand- 
ing near  him,  and  perceiving  his  danger,  exclaimed, 
u  change  your  position,  my  lord  !  I  see  a  rascal  taking 
aim  at  you  :"  the  same  instant  Nelson  received  the 
wound  that  in  a  few  hours  terminated  his  earthly  exist- 
ence. Lord  Nelson,  on  receiving  his  wound,  was  im- 
mediately sensible  it  was  mortal ;  and  said  with  a  smile 
to  Captain  Hardie,  "  They  have  done  it  for  me  at  last." 
On  being  told,  a  few  minutes  before  he  expired,  that 
twelve  of  the  enemy's  ships  had  certainly  struck,  he 
said,  "  What,  only  twelve  !  there  should  at  least  have 


3$4     TRANSFUSION—TRANSMIGRATION. 

been  fifteen  or  sixteen,  by  my  calculation  :  however, 
twelve  is  pretty  well !"  He  now  said  that  "  he  felt 
death  fast  approaching,  and  that  he  had  but  a  few 
minutes  to  live  :  he  could  have  wished  to  survive  a 
little  longer  to  have  seen  the  fleet  in  safety ;  but  as  that 
was  impossible,  he  thanked  God  that  he  had  outlived 
the  action,  and  had  been  enabled  to  do  his  duty  to  his 
country." — Charnock. 

TRANSFUSION,  in  surgery  or  medicine,  the  in- 
troducing of  the  blood  of  one  animal  body  into  that 
of  another.  This  scheme  for  prolonging  human  life, 
(first  recommended,  in  the  year  1615,'  by  Andreas  Li- 
bavius,  professor  of  medicine  and  chymistry,  in  Ger- 
many,) excited  hopes  in  Europe  of  a  kind  of  immortal- 
ity in  this  world,  by  means  of  renewing  the  blood. 
The  operation  was  performed  in  the  following  mariner. 
The  blood  of  the  young,  healthy,  and  vigorous,  was 
transfused  into  the  old  and  infirm,  by  means  of  a  deli- 
cate tube,  placed  in  a  vein  opened  for  that  purpose: 
into  this  vein  a  small  tube  was  placed  in  a  perpendicular 
direction  ;  at  the  same  time  a  vein  was  opened  in  a 
young  and  healthy  animal,  commonly,  a  lamb,  or  calf, 
into  which  another  tube  was  forced  in  a  reclining  di- 
rection ;  both  the  small  tubes  were  then  slidden  into 
each  other,  and  in  that  position  the  delicate  act  of 
transfusion  was  safely  performed.  In  some  instances, 
the  good  effects  of  these  experiments  were  evident  and 
promising;  but  the  increasing  abuses  practised  by 
b^ld  and  inexpert  adventurers,  together  with  the  great 
number  of  cases  wherein  it  proved  unsuccessful,  in- 
duced the  different  governments  of  Europe  to  put  an 
entire  stop  to  the  practice  by  the  strictest  prohibitions. 
—Willich. 

TRANSMIGRATION,  in  pagan  mythology,  the 
passing  of  human  souls  into  other  bodies.  This  doc- 
trine originated  among  the  East-Indians,  and  is  of 
great  antiquity.  The  Indians  believed  that  the  soul 
transmigrated  from  body  to  body,  for  a  long  succession 
of  ages  ;  that  the  punishment  of  crimes  would  be  to 
have  the  souls  of  the  criminals  thurst  into  some  unclean 
or  detested  brute  animals  after  death  5  that  the  cruel 


TRENTON— TRIPOLI,  S85 

and  tyranical,  for  instance,  would  suffer  in  other  bo- 
dies trie  same  kinds  of  distress  and  tortures  that  they 
had  inflicted;  aad  that  after  a  course  of  trials  and 
transmigrations,  the  soul  would  be  reunited  to  its  ori- 
ginal body,  in  order  to  enjoy  eternal  happiness.  Ac- 
cordingly -they  scrupulously  abstained  from  eating 
flesh  and  from  spilling  the  blood  of  any  of  the  inferior 
animals,  lest  they  should  eat  or  kill  some  near  relation. 
Pythagoras,  in  his  travels  in  India  learned  this  doctrine, 
of  the  Indian  Brachmans,  and  taught  it  in  Greece. 

TRENTON,  a  pleasant  town  of  New- Jersey ;  situ- 
ated on  the  east  bank  of  the  river  Delaware :  and 
distinguished  for  being  the  site  of  a  brilliant  victory, 
achieved  at  the  most  gloomy  period  of  the  American 
revolutionary  war;  when  General  Washington,  with 
the  remnant  of  an  army,  re-crossed  the  Delaware  (De- 
cember 25,  1776)  and  attacking  Colonel  Rawle,  posted 
at  Trenton,  made  prisoners  of  one  thousand  of  his 
troops.  Twelve  years  after  this  action,  when  General 
Washington  was  passing  toward  the  seat  of  govern- 
ment, to  be  inaugurated  as  president  of  the  United 
States,  a  numerous  party  of  the  respectable  matrons  of 
Trenton,  assembled  together  at  the  bridge, v  holding 
by  the  hand  their  daughters,  who  were  dressed  in  white, 
and  had  baskets  of  flowers  on  their  arms ;  and  upon 
the  arrival  of  the  general  at  the  bridge,  the  young 
misses,  with  voices  sweet,  chaunted  an  ode,  the  last 
stanza  of  wThich  was  as  follows : 

*'  Virgins  fair  and -matrons  grave, 
"  Those  thy  conquering  arms  did  save, 
"  Build  for  t/iee  iriufnphant  bowers  ; 
"  Straw,  ye  fair,  his  way  with  flowers, 
"  Srew  your  hero's  way  with  flowers."  , 

At  the  last  line  the  flovv.ers  were  strewed  before  him. 

TRIPOLI,  a  country  of  Africa,  in  Barbary ;  bounded 
on  the  north  by  the  Mediterranean  Sea;  *on  the  west 
by  Tunis  ;  and  on  the  east  by  Egypt.  It  is  about  nine 
hundred  and  twenty-five  miles  along  the  sea  coast,  but 
the  breadth  is  various.  This  piratical  state  is  governed 
I  i 


386  TRIUMVIRATE. 

by  a  Dey,  who  is.  under  the  control  of  the  grand  Seigu- 
ior  of  Turkey.  Tripoli,  the  capital  of  the  state  of  the 
same  name,  "is  situated  on  the  coast  of  the  Mediterra- 
nean, in  a  sandy  soil  surrounded  by  a  wall,  in  3£°  34' 
north  latitude.  This  city  was  taken  by  Charles  V.  who 
settled  the  knights  of  Malta  there ;  but  they  were 
driven  away  by  the  Turks  in  1551.  The  Tripolitans 
derive  their  chief  gain  from  the  Christian  slaves ;  on 
whom  they  set  high  ransoms,  and  make  them  perform 
all  kinds  of  drudgery. 

TRIUMVIRATE,  the  union  of  three  most  power- 
ful citizens  of  Rome,  in  usurping  the  whole  manage- 
ment of  the  republic.  The  first  Roman  triumvirate 
consisted  of  Pompey,  Ceesar,  and  Crassus,  Those  three 
men,  by  their  nefarious  union  for  that  purpose,  subvert- 
ed the  constitution  of  the  Roman  republic,  and  divided 
among  themselves  the  whole  power  of  the  state ;  yet, 
as  a  solemn  lesson  to  usurpers,  they  all  came  to  a 
miserable  end.  Crassus,  together  with  his  army,  was 
cut  off  by  the  Parthians,  now  called  Tartars.  After  the 
death  of  Crassus,  Csesars  unquenchable  thirst  for  em- 
pire, and  wild  ambition  of  being  the  greatest  man  in  the 
world,  prompted  him  to  employ  his  arms  to  the  de- 
struction of  Pompey,  his  son-in-law,  who  was  his  only 
remaining  rival.  Pompey,  defeated  by  Csesar  on  the 
plaitis  of  Pharsalia,  fled  to  Egypt :  where  he  was  sen- 
tenced to  die  by  a  council  of  slaves,  was  murdered  by  a 
base  deserter,  and  cast  out  naked  and  headless  on  the 
Egyptian  strand  ;  and  when  the  whole  earth  had  scarce 
been  sufficient  for  his  victories,  could  not  find  a  spot 
upon  it  at  last  for  his  grave.  Csesar  having  made 
more  desolations  in  the  world  than  any  other  man, 
perhaps,  that  ever  lived  in  it ;  having  destroyed  about 
a  million  and  two  hundred  thousand  lives  by  his  con- 
quests in  Gaul,  and  nearly  as  many  more  in  the  civil 
wars  ;  having  at  last  advanced  himself  to  an  unrivalled 
and  astonishing  height  of  power,  through  a  perpetual 
course  of  faction,  violence,  rapine,  and  slaughter,  he 
was  assassinated  in  the  senate-house,  after  enjoying  the 
quiet  possession  of  empire  only  Jive  months.  The  next 
year  after  the  death  of  Julius  Cresar,  a  new  triumvinife 
was  formed  by  young  Octavius,  Cesar's  nephew,  to- 


TROY— TUNIS.  387 

gcther  with  Murk  Anthony  and  Lepidus  ;  which  termi- 
nated in  the  disgrace  and  ruin  of  Lepidus,  the  destruc- 
tion of  Anthony,  and  the  enthronement  of  Gctavius,  as 
the  first  Roman  emperor,  under  the  name  of  Augustus 
C?esar.  The  Saviour  of  the  world  was  born  in  the 
reign  of  Tiberius,  the  adopted  heir  and  successor  of 
Augustus  Caesar,  and  was  condemned  to  crucifixion  by 
one  of  his  provincial  governors,  namely,  Pontius  Pilate. 

TROY,  formerly  called  liium,  a  wealthy  and  famous 
ancient  city  of  Asia,  near  the  Archipelago,  at  the  foot 
of  Mount  Ida,  and  opposite  to  the  isle  of  Tenedos. 
The  first  irruption  of  the  Europeans  into  Asia,  was 
against  this  city.  About  twelve  hundred  years  before 
the  nativity  of  our  Saviour,  Paris,  a  son  of  Priam  king 
of  Troy,  travelling  through  Greece,  seduced  and  car- 
ried away  Helen,  the  wife  of  Menelaus,  a  Grecian 
prince ;  and  the  whole  Grecian  states  united  to  revenge 
this  affront.  With  a  fleet  consisting  of  twelve  hundred 
small  vessels  and  a  numerous  army  under  the  command 
of  several  petty  kings,  they  besieged  Troy,  and  con- 
tinued the  siege  ten  years  5  when  the  city  was  taken  by 
stratagem,  and  laid  in  ruins.  About  three  hundred 
years  after  the  Trojan  war,  Greece  gave  birth  to 
Homer,  a  prodigy  of  genius,  whose  poems  immor- 
talized Troy,  as  well  as  contributed  to  exalt  his  own 
country. 

TUNIS,  a  country  of  Africa;  bordering  on  the  Me- 
diterranean Sea  and  the  state  of  Tripoli ;  and  extending 
three  hundred  miles  in  length,  and  t\yo  hundred  and 
fifty  in  breadth.  This  country  was  formerly  a  monar- 
chy ;  but  a  difference  arising  between  a  king  and  his 
son,  one  of  whom  was  for  the  protection  of  the  Chris- 
tians, and  the  other  for  that  of  the  Turks,  the  inhabi- 
tants, in  1574,  shook  oft*  the  authority  of  both.  From 
this  time  it  became  a  republic  under  the  protection  of 
the  Turks,  who  receive  thence  an  annual  tribute.  Some 
parts  of  this  country  are  very  fertile  ;  but  the  woods 
and  mountains  abound  with  lions ;  and  the  inroads  of 
the  Arabs  oblige  the  inhabitants  to  sow  their  grain  in 
the  suburbs,  and  to  inclose  their  gardens  with  walls. 
The  city  of  Tunis  is  seated  on  the  point  of  the  Gulf  of 


588  TURKEY— TURKS. 

Croletta,  a  few  miles  from  the  place  where  the  city  of 
Carthage  stood.  The  walls  are  very  lofty,  and  flanked 
with  strong  towers  :  it  is  said  to  contain  three  hundred 
thousand  inhabitants,  of  whom  thirty  thousand  are 
Jews.  In  the  city  of  Tunis  alone  there  are  said  to  be 
above  three  thousand  clothiers  and  weavers ;  in  the 
whole  state  there  are  generally  about  twelve  thousand 
Christian  slaves. — British  Encyclopaedia. 

TURKEY,  a  vast  empire,  extending  over  some  of 
the  finest  parts  of  Europe,  Asia,  and  Africa  ;  and  com- 
prehending all  the  islands  belonging  to  ancient  Greece, 
which  are  called  the  Archipelago.  Turkey  in  Europe 
is  situated  between  thirty-six  and  forty-nine  degrees  of 
north  latitude  ;  is  a  thousand  miles  long,  and  nine  hun- 
dred broad  ;  and  is  bounded,  in  part,  by  Russia,  Poland, 
and  the  Mediterranean  Sea.  Turkey  in  Asia  is  situated 
between  twenty-eight  and  forty-five  degrees  of  nortli 
latitude  5  is  a  thousand  miles  long,  and  eight  hundred 
broad  ;  and  is  bounded,  in  part,  by  Persia,  Arabia,  and 
the  Mediterranean.  In  Africa,  the  Turkish  empire  has 
an  acknowledged  sovereignty  over  Egypt?  and  receives 
the  homage  of  the  Barbary  states.  This  empire  com- 
prehending Egypt,  the  cradle  of  science,  and  all  Greece 
the  celebrated  seat  of  the  fine  arts,  extends  over  Syria 
and  Palestine,  and  over  a  great  part  of  the  ancient  As- 
syrian and  Babylonish  dominions.  It  has  blasted  every 
country  that  has  been  subjected  to  its  power  ;  the  arts, 
the  sciences,  and  genius  itself,  have  faded  and  withered 
Under  its  baneful  influence. 

TURKS,  the  descendants  of  the  various  hordes  of 
shepherds  dispersed  to  the  east,  and  to  the  north,  of 
the  Caspian  Sea,  in  Asia.  Those  wandering  tribes,  the 
ancestors  of  the  Turks,  were  the  same  people  who 
were  known  to  the  ancient  Greeks  and  Romans  by  the 
name  of  Parthians  and  Scythians,  for  which  we  have 
substituted  that  of  Tartars.  They  have  shewn  them- 
selves in  every  age,  brave  and  formidable  warriors, 
whom  neither  Cyrus  nor  Alexander  were  able  to  sub- 
due. In  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth  century,  cer- 
tain hordes  who  had  lived  to  the  east  of  the  Caspian, 
began  their  march  under  Soihnan  their  chief,  to  th? 


TWILIGHT— TYRE.  389 

numbe*M)f  fifty  thousand  horsemen,  driving  their  herds 
before  them.  Sbliman  being  drowned,  in  1220,  in  en- 
deavoring to  pass  the  Euphrates  on  horseback,  Erto- 
grul,  his  son,  took  the  command  of  the  hordes,  and 
advanced  into  the  plains  of  Asia  Minor.  Ertogrul  was 
succeeded  by  his  son  Osman,  from  whom  the  Turks 
took  the  name  of  Ottomans  ;  which  new  name  soon 
became  formidable  to  the  Greeks  of  Constantinople.^ 
from  whom  Osman  conquered  a  sufficient  extent  of 
territory  to  found  a  powerful  kingdom.  He  sjoon  be- 
stowed on  it  that  title,  by  assuming,  in  1300,  the  dignity 
of  Sultan*  which  signifies  absolute  sovereign. —  Volney. 

TWILIGHT,  the  li^ht  appearing  before  sun-rise 
and  after  sun- set ;  occasioned  by  the  refraction  of  the 
solar  rays  by  the  atmosphere.  The  region  of  the  at- 
mosphere where  the  light  of  the  sun  ceases  to  be 
refracted  to  us,  is  estimated  by  philosophers  to  be 
between  forty  and  fifty  miles  high  ;  and  the  rarity  of  the 
air  is  supposed  to  be  from  four  thousand  to  ten  thou- 
sand times  greater  at  the  summit  of  the  atmosphere 
than  at  the  surface  of  the  earth.  The  duration  of 
twilight,  which  commonly  lasts  till  the  sun  is  about 
eighteen  degrees  below  the  horizon,  differs  in  different 
seasons  and  in  different  latitudes.  In  England  the 
shortest  twilight  is  about  the  beginning  of  October  and 
of  March  ;  in  more  northern  latitudes,  where  the  SUR 
never  sinks  more  than  eighteen  degrees  below  the 
horizon,  the  twilight  continues  the  whole  night.  The 
time  of  its  duration  may  also  be  occasionally  affected 
by  the  varying  height  of  the  atmosphere.— ^Darwin. 
In  tropical  climates  or  in  the  torrid  zones,  there  is  scarce 
any  twilight ;  the  darkness  of  night  commencing  almost 
immediately  after  sun-set. 

TYRE,  an  ancient  city,  seated  on  an  island  of  the 
Mediterranean  Sea,  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  from  the 
continent.  It  was  surrounded  with  a  strong  wall,  a 
hundred  and  fifty  feet  high,  which  the  waves  of  the  sea 
washed.  It  was  a  city  of  immense  commerce  and 
wealth  ;  but  now,  according  to  scripture  prediction,  is 
only  inhabited  by  a  few  wretched  fishermen.  About 
three  hundred  and  thirty  years  before  our  Saviour'? 
I  i  2 


390      UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA,  &c 

birth.  Alexander  besieged  Tyre ;  which  wa~  takeu 
after- a  siege  of  six  months;  though  the  inhabitants 
used  every  measure  to  defend  it,  which  ingenuity  could 
devise,  or  resolution  execute.  After  the  city  was  taken, 
Alexander  ordered  two  thousand  Tyrians  to  be  fixed 
en  crosses  along  the  sea  shore. — Roltin. 


U. 


JNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA,  situated  be- 
tween the  46th  and  Slst  degrees  of  north  latitude  ;  ex- 
tending about  twelve  hundred  and  fifty  miles  in  length, 
and  one  thousand  and  forty  in  breadth  ;  containing,  as 
is  supposed,  about  five  hundred  and  ninety  million  acres 
of  fast  land  ;  bounded  north  and  east  by  the  British 
provinces  of  Upper  and  Lower  Canada,  and  New-Bruns- 
wick ;  southeast  by  the  Atlantic  Ocean ;  south  by  East 
and  West  Florida ;  and  west  by  the  river  Mississippi. 
The  population  of  the  United  States  has  more  than 
doubled  since  the  year  1774.  Our  seamen  are  more 
than  four  times  as  numerous  ;  and  domestic  produce 
has  increased  six  fold.  In  1801,  our  exports  exceeded 
fifteen  times  the  proportion  of  1774.  The  tonnage  of 
merchantmen  is  almost  five  times  as  great.  The  aver- 
age price  of  labor  has  increased  three  told,  that  of  wheat 
has  more  than  doubled,  and  the  quantity  of  metallic  me- 
dium is  more  than  four  times  as  great.  The  resources 
which  may  be  derived  from  the  future  sales  of  lands, 
•will  in  all  probability  surpass  five  hundred  million  dol- 
lars.— Coxe,  Blodget.  Since  the  time  of  writing  the 
above,  to  wit,  in  1807,  the  condition  and  prospects  of 
the  United  States  have  been  lamentably  changed  for  the 
worse. 


f  ACCINATION,  the  act  of  inoculating  with  the 
cew  pock  ;  this  being  an  eruptive  disease,  which  attacks 


VAPOR— VARNISH  TREE.  391 

the  udders  of  cows,  and  which  when  transferred  to  the 
human  system,  secures  it  from  the  small  pox.  This 
mode  of  inoculating  for  the  small  pox,  discovered  by 
Dr.  Jenner  of  Great  Britain,  in  the  year  1798,  may  per- 
haps be  justly  considered  as  the  most  memorable  im- 
provement ever  made  in  the  practice  of  physic.  An  in- 
stitution in  Great  Britain,  for  the  purpose  of  preserving 
and  communicating  the  vaccine  infection,  and  particu- 
larly for  inoculating  the  poor,  has  been  formed  since  the 
publication  of  Dr.  Jenner's  discovery.  For  this  the 
public  are  principally  indebted  to  the  enlightened  and 
benevolent  exertions  of  Dr.  Pearson,  of  London.  A 
similar  institution  has  been  more  recently  formed  in  the 
city  of  New-York.  The  first  person  who  inoculated 
with  the  vaccine  virus,  in  the  United  States,  was  Dr. 
Waterhouse,  Professor  of  the  Theory  and  Practice  of 
Physic,  in  the  University  of  Cambridge,  Massachusetts > 
— Miller. 

VAPOR,  small  particles  which,  being  separated  from 
fluids,  rarified,  and  rendered  specifically  lighter  than 
air,  ascend  to  a  considerable  height  in  the  atmosphere, 
and  are  at  length  totally  dissipated.  The  aqueous  va- 
pors, exhaled  from  the  earth  and  water  by  the  solar  rays, 
compose  the  clouds  ;  from  which  those  humidities  are 
precipitated  in  the  form  of  rain.  But  there  are  other 
vapors  arising  from  metals,  extremely  pernicious  to 
animal  life ;  such,  for  instance,  are  those  disengaged 
by  the  smelting  or  refining  of  lead,  which  communicate 
a  deleterious  quality  to  even  the  grass  in  their  vicinity ; 
so  that  the  cattle  feeding  on  it  frequently  perish ;  and, 
if  any  stagnant  water  be  impregnated  with  these  fumes, 
it  proves  equally  fatal  to  fish.  There  are  likewise  me- 
phitic  vapors,  discharged  from  the  bowels  of  the  earth  ; 
and  which  are  peculiarly  injurious  both  to  men  and  cat- 
tle :  other  poisonous  vapors  are  generated  in  wells. — • 
Willich.  Scarce  a  year  passes  without  hearing  of  the 
loss  of  lives,  by  venturing  down  into  wells  whose  waters 
have  been  long  stagnant ;  and  this  should  never  be  at- 
tempted without  previously  cleansing  the  air  in  the 
well,  by  ventillation,  or  by  other  eftectual  means. 

VARNISH  TREE,  or  Tsi-chu,  a  valuable  tree  that 


392  VEGETABLE  DIET— VENICE. 

grows  only  in  China,  and  the  best  in  the  southerly  parts 
of  that  empire.  It  is  a  reddish  gum,  distilling  from  this 
tree,  that  gives  an  incomparable  lustre  and  beauty  to 
some  of  the  Chinese  manufactures.  The  tsi-chu,  the 
bark  and  leaves  of  which  resemble  the  ash,  bears  ^ei- 
ther fruit  nor  flowers.  It  is,  when  full  grown,  about 
fifteen  feet  in  length  ;  and  the  circumference  of  its  trunk, 
about  two  feet  5  the  gum  is  obtained  by  making  several 
rows  of  incisions  round  the  trunk.  A  thousand  trees 
yield,  on  an  average,  in  one  night,  near  twenty  pounds 

*•   f  •     i  *r^-      »       '  t      i  i  .  * 


VEGETABLE  DIET,  a  pleasant  and  wholesome 
kind  of  sustenance,  the  use  or  disuse  of  which  forms 
one  trait  of  difference  between  the  civilized  man  and 
the  savage.  The  savage  state  is  the  most  carnivorous. 
The  shepherd  who  occupies  a  middle  rank  between  the 
savage  and  the  husbandman,  uses  in  his  diet,  milk  and 
butter,  as  well  as  flesh.  In  the  agricultural  state  vege- 
tables are  cultivated  for  food  :  by  means  of  commerce 
and  travels  the  useful  vegetables  belonging  to  countries 
distant  from  one  another,  are  transplanted  5  and  as  any 
people  improve  in  agriculture,  commerce  and  the  arts 
of  life,  esculent  vegetables  are  multiplied,  and  their  use 
in  human  diet  is  proportionably  increased.  According- 
ly Sir  John  Pringle  affirms,  that  the  quantity  of  vegeta- 
bles used  in  and  near  London,  at  the  time  of  the  revo- 
lution, in  1688,  was  not  more  than  one  sixth  of  what 
was  used  in  the  same  place  in  1750. 

VENICE,  an  aristocratical  republic  of  Italy,  founded 
in  the  fourth  century,  comprehending  fourteen  provin- 
ces, and  containing  about  a  quarter  of  a  million  people. 
This  republic  was  fraudulently  taken  by  the  French,  and 
by  them  was  bartered  away  to  the  German  emperor, 
to  whom  it  was  confirmed  by  the  treaty  of  Luneville,  in 
1  801.  In  the  4th  century,  when  Attila,  king  of  the  Huns, 
ealied  the  scourge  of  God,  ravaged  the  north  part  of 
Italy,  many  of  the  inhabitants  abandoned  their  country, 
and  retired  into  the  islands  of  the  Adriatic  Gulf.  As 
these  islands  were  near  each  other,  they  found  means  to 
join  them  together,  by  driving  piles  on  the  side  of  the 
cajaals,  and  on  which  they  built  houses  $  and  thus  the 


VENUS.  393 

superb  city  of  Venice  had  its  beginning.  It  stands  on 
seventy -two  islands ;  and  has  been  one  ot  the  most  cel- 
ebrated cities  in  the  world  for  wealth  and  commerce. 
The  Venetians,  during  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  cen- 
turies, carried  on  a  very  profitable  trade  in  spiceries? 
and  other  East-India  goods,  which  they  distributed 
among  the  other  nations  of  Europe.  They  purchased 
them  chiefly  in  Egypt,  at  that  time  under  the  dominion 
of  the  Mamlouks,  the  enemies  of  the  Turks,  of  whom 
also  the  Venetians  were  the  enemies;  and  this  union 
of  interest,  assisted  by  the  money  of  Venice,  gave  the 
Venetians  almost  a  monopoly  of  this  rich  commerce.— 
After  the  discovery  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  by  the 
Portuguese,  in  1497,  the  trade  of  the  Venetians  began, 
to  decline,  and  at  last  sunk  into  insignificance. —  Walker^ 
Jl.  Smith.  The  ruin  of  Venice  was  completed  by  its  an- 
nexation to  France.  According  to  credible  reports,  its 
streets  are  filled  with  beggars  ;  among  whom  are  the 
descendants  of  its  ancient  nobility  and  wealthiest  citi- 
zens. 

VENUS, ^a  heathen  goddess,  feigned  to  be  the  patron- 
ess of  love/ and  the  graces,  by  the  Grecian  and  Roman 
poets ;  who  pretended  the  place  of  her  nativity  was 
Cyprus,  a  large  and  beautiful  island  in  the  Mediterra- 
nean Sea,  belonging  now  to  the  Turkish  empire.  Here 
this  goddess  was  worshipped,  of  old,  by  lewd  rites  and 
shameless  prostitutions;  and  although  by  the  gospel, 
\vhich  was  preached  and  planted  here  by  St.  Paul  him- 
self, the  professed  worship  of  Venus  was  abolished  and 
many  converts  to  Christianity  made  ;  yet  the  Cypriots, 
or  people  of  Caramania^  as  the  island  is  now  called,  con- 
tinue, in  general,  even  to  the  present  time,  to  be  im- 
mersed in  lewdness  and  debauchery. 

VENUS,  the  brightest  of  all  the  planets.  Its  diam- 
eter is  seven  thousand  six  hundred  and  eighty -seven 
miles  ;  its  medial  distance  from  the  sun  is  sixty-eight 
million  miles ;  and  its  periodical  revolution  is  perform- 
ed in  two  hundred  and  twenty-four  days  and  seventeen 
hours.  When  this  planet  is  in  that  part  of  its  orbit  which 
is  west  of  the  sun  it  rises  before  him  in  the  morningv 
and  is  called  the  Morning  Star ;  when  it  is  in  the  east- 


594  VERMONT—VESUVIUS. 

ern  part  ofits  orbit,  it  shines  in  the  evening  after  the  suit 
sets,  and  is  caS'^d  the  Evening  Star.  This  primary 
planet  has  one  WK>II.  In  some  parts  of  the  globe,  and 
particularly  in  the  island  of  Jamaica,  the  planet  Venus 
in  a  manner  supplies  the  light  of  the  moon  in  her  ab- 
sence. This  planet  appears  there  like  a  little  moon, 
and  glitters  with  so  effulgent  a  beam  as  to  cast  a  shade 
from  trees,  buildings,  and  other  objects  •  making  full 
amends  for  the  short  stay  and  abrupt  departure  of  the 
twilight. — Bowdit0h)  "Bryan  Edwards. 

^  VERMONT,  [Green  Mount,]  one  of  the  United 
States  of  America.  It  is  altogether  an  inland  country ; 
surrounded  by  the  states  of  New-Hampshire,  Massa- 
chusetts, New-York,  and  the  province  of  Canada  ;  that 
part  of  the  state  of  Vermont  which  is  nearest  to  the  sea 
coast,  being  at  the  distance  of  seventy  or  eighty  miles 
from  any  part  of  the  ocean.  The  length  of  the  state 
from  tlie  southern  to  the  northern  boundary  is  about 
one  hundred  and  fifty-seven  miles,  and  the  mean  width 
from  east  to  west  is  about  sixty-five  miles.  It  takes 
its  name  from  the  range  of  mountains,  called  Green 
Mountains,  which  run  through  it.  Among*8  these  moun- 
tains, all  the  streams  and  rivers  of  Vermont  have  their 
origin  :  most  of  them  have  an  easterly  direction,  and 
empty  into  Connecticut  river  ;  some  run  westerly,  and 
discharge  themselves  into  lake  Champlain  :  two  or  three, 
running  in  the  s;tine  direction,  fall  into  Hudson's  river, 
Williams* 

VESUVIUS,  a  famous  volcano  of  Italy,  six  miles 
east  of  the  city  of  Naples.  The  first  eruption  on  histo- 
rical record,  attended  with  a  terrible  earthquake,  was  in 
the  year  79 ;  when  its  lava  overwhelmed  the  cities  of 
Pompeii  and  Herculaneum  ;  the  ruins  of  which  were 
discovered  in  the  17th  century,  sixty  feet  below  the  sur- 
face. It  is  said  that  at  the  time  of  this  eruption  and 
earthquake,  the  sun  was  totally  eclipsed.  There  have 
been  many  eruptions  of  this  mountain  since  that  time  ; 
one  of  winch,  in  1158,  destroyed  four  thousand  people 
and  a  large  tract  of  land.  One  of  the  most  terrible  erup- 
tions of  Vesuvius  happened  in  1779  :  when  it  was  at 
-d  with  many  violent  shocks  of  earthquakes,  and 


VIENNA—VINE.  395 

with  a  prodigious  loss  of  lives.  Vesuvius  is  about  three 
thousand  and  nine  hundred  feet  above  the  level  of  the 
sea  :  its  declivity  towards  the  sea,  is  every  where  plant- 
ed with  vines  and  fruit-trees ;  and  its  neighborhood  is 
covered  with  populous  towns  and  villages,  built  upon 
the  surface  of  the  lava  which  overwhelmed  the  former 
inhabitantss. 

VIENNA,  the  capital  of  the  German  empire,  situat- 
ed at  the  place  where  the  river  Wien  falls  into  the  Da- 
nube. In  the  year  1683,  Vienna  was  besieged  by  an  ar- 
my of  Turks  consisting  of  fifty  thousand  Janizaries,  thir- 
ty thousand  Spahis,  and  two  hundred  thousand  common 
soldiers.  The  whole  German  empire  was  thrown  into 
consternation.  The  siege  lasted  from  July  till  Septem- 
ber ;  but  at  the  moment  when  the  besieged  expected 
an  assault,  as  a  breach  in  the  wall  had  been  made,  John 
Sobieski,  king  of  Poland,  descended  from  the  mountain 
of  Calemberg,  with  an  army  of  sixty -four  thousand  men. 
He  suddenly  attacked  and  routed  the  Turkish  army, 
which  fled  with  such  terror  and  precipitation,  that  they 
left  behind  them  their  tents,  artillery  and  baggage. — 
Russell. 

VINE,  the  plant  that  produces  the  grape  which 
yields  wine,  and  which,  dried  in  the  sun  or  in  ovens,  be- 
comes raisins :  it  is  propagated  from  layers  or  cuttings. 
The  vine  is  more  effected  by  the  difference  of  soils  than 
any  other  fruit  tree.  From  some  soils  it  derives  a  flavor 
which  no  culture  or  management  can  equal,  upon  others. 
Thus,  the  Muscadine  grape,  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope, 
succeeds  perfectly  only  on  a  particular  spot  of  ground  ; 
and  degenerates  when  it  is  transplanted  to  even  but  a 
small  distance.  The  vine  flourishes  only  in  temperate 
climates ;  too  much  heat  as  well  as  too  much  cold  de- 
stroys it.  In  countries  where  the  principal  cultivation  is 
that  of  the  vine,  individuals  become  richer,  but  the  peo- 
ple generally  are  poorer  than  in  other  agricultural  coun- 
tries ;  because  the  management  of  a  vineyard  requires 
a  great  capital,  which  but  few  possess.  Adam  {Smith 
informs  us- that  the  inhabitants  of  the  wine  countries, 
particularly  the  Spaniards,  the  Italians,  and  the  inhabi- 
tants of  the  southern  provinces  of  France,  are  the  most 


396  VIRGINIA— VOLCANOS. 

temperate  people  in  Europe.  Where  wine  is  as  plen- 
ty and  cheap  as  cider  is  with  us,  the  people  as  seldom 
intoxicate  themselves  with  it. 

VIRGINIA,  one  of  the  United  States  of  America  5 
lying  between  56°  30'  and  40°  30'  north  latitude;  ex- 
tending four  hundred  and  forty -six  miles  in  length,  and 
two  hundred  and  twenty-four  in  breadth  ;  bounded  by 
Maryland,  part  of  Pennsylvania,  and  Ohio  river,  Ken- 
tucky, North-Carolina  and  the  Atlantic  Ocean  :  it  is 
divided  into  82  counties.  After  several  unsuccessful 
attempts,  Virginia  was  settled  permanently,  in  the  year 
1 610  5  being  the  oldest  of  the  English  colonies  in  Amer- 
ica. In  about  ten  years  after  the  permanent  settlement 
of  this  colony,  the  Virginia  company  in  England  were 
constrained  by  the  arbitrary  orders  of  James  I.  to  send 
to  Virginia,  at  their  own  expense,  one  hundred  dissolute 
persons,  convicted  of  crimes,  who  should  be  delivered 
to  them  by  the  knight  Marshal.  The  contamination, 
disgrace,  and  disorders,  occasioned  by  sending  ship- 
ments of  convicts  from  time  to  time,  to  this  infant  colo- 
ny, Mr.  Stith*  an  early  historian  of  the  colony,  thus  be- 
wailed :  "  I  cannot  but  remark  (said  he)  how  early  that 
custom  arose  of  transporting  loose  and  dissolute  per- 
sons to  Virginia ;  it  hath  laid  one  of  the  finest  coun- 
tries in  America,  under  the  unjust  scandal  of  being  an- 
other Siberia,  fit  only  for  the  reception  of  malefactors, 
and  the  vilest  of  the  people."  Richmond,  lying  on  the 
north  side  of  James  river,  is  the  seat  of  government;  and 
Norfolk,  situated  on  the  east  side  of  Elizabeth  river,  is 
the  first  town  in  point  of  commerce. 

VOLCANOS,  burning  mountains.  Newton  ascribed 
the  origin  of  Volcanos,  and  their  support,  to  caverns  of 
sulphur  inclosed  in  the  bowels  of  the  earth.  To  this  it 
is  objected,  that  Vesuvius  alone,  which  has  burned  al- 
most continually  for  more  than  seventeen  hundred  years, 
would  have  consumed  a  mass  of  sulphur  larger  than  the 
whole  kingdom  of  Naples  where  it  stands.  A  more  mo- 
dern theory  is,  that  a  supply  for  keeping  up  volcanos  is 
not  in  the  earth,  but  in  the  sea ;  that  it  is  furnished  by 
the  oils*  the  bitumens,  and  the  nitres  of  vegetables  and 
animal*  which  the  rains  and  the  rivers  convey  off  from 


WALES.  397 

every  quarter  into  the  ocean,  where  the  dissolution  of 
all  bodies  is  completed  by  its  lixivial  water;  that  nature 
purifies  the  waters  by  the*  tires  of  volcanos,  as  it  purifies 
the  air  by  those  of  thunder ;  that  as  thunder  storms  are 
more  common  in  hot  countries,  so  in  these  likewise,  vol- 
canos are  multiplied,  and  for  the  same  reason.  In  sap- 
port  of  this  theory  it  is  alledged,  first,  that  the  saltness 
-of  the  sea  does  not  prevent  its  water  from  putrefaction, 
as  is  vulgarly  believed  ;  but  it  is  liable  in  hot  countries, 
to  putridity  ;  and  therefore  needs  some  powerful  engine 
of  nature  to  prevent  its  corrupting.  Secondly,  there  is 
not  a  single  volcano  in  the  interior  of  continents,  unless 
it  be  in  the  vicinity  of  some  great  lake,  such  as  that  of 
Mexico.  They  are  situated,  for  the  most  part,  in  isl- 
ands, at  the  extremity,  or  at  the  confluence  of  the  cur- 
rents of  the  sea,  and  in  the  counter  tide  of  their  waters. 
Thirdly,  another  proof  that  they  owe  their  support  to 
(lie  sea  is,  that,  in  their  eruptions,  they  frequently 
Tomit  out  torrents  of  salt  water. — &£.  Pierre. 


W. 

V  f  ALES,  a  principality  in  the  west  of  England  ; 
extending  one  hundred  and  eighty  miles  in  length,  and 
eighty  in  breadth  ;  bordering  on  the  north  and  west  up- 
on the  Irish  Sea,  and  St.  George's  Channel.  It  is  the 
country  to  which  the  ancient  Britons  i/ed,  at  the  time  of 
the  Saxon  invasion.  They  are  now  called  Welsh,  and 
continue  to  preserve  their  own  language,  which  has  a 
strong,  affinity  with  the  Attic  orPhenician.  Whales  was 
subdued  by  Edward  I.  of  England,  in  1282;  and  David 
their  prince,  falling  into  the  hands  of  Edward,  was  bar- 
barously hanged  by  his  orders,  who  also  caused  the 
Welsh  bards  to  be  massacred.  In  1284,  the  queen  of 
England  happening  to  be  brought,  to  bed  of  a  son  at  Car- 
narvon, Edward  styled  him  the  Prince  of  Wales,  which 
title  the  heir  apparent  to  the  British  crown  has  borne 
ever  since.  The  Welch  lay  claim  to  the  discovery  of 
some  part  of  North  America,  as  early  as  the  year  1170; 
by  Madoc  their  priiice. 

Kk 


398  WALNUT  TREE—WAR  BELTS—WATER. 

WALNUT  TREK,  a  valuable  tree,  which,  in  its  sev- 
eral varieties,  is  a  native  of  the  United  States  of  Amer- 
ica.  The  walnut  is  valuable  for  fuel,  for  timber  and  for 
fruit.  Its  wood  has  been  often  employed  in  the  manu- 
facture of  household  furniture  ;  but  being  very  brittle, 
it  is  at  present  superceded  by  mahogany  and  other  for- 
eign timber.  Nevertheless,  it  is  highly  prized  .by  join- 
ers and  cabinet-maker,  for  tables,  gun-stocks,  and  oth- 
er light  articles  ;  as  it  is  beautifully  veined,  and  admits 
of  a  fine  polish.  The  fruit  of  the  walnut  tree,  is  used 
at  two  periods  of  its  growth,  namely,  when  green,  for 
pickling,  and  in  a  ripe  state,  at  the  desert.  According 
to  Bartram,  the  Creek  Indians  store  up  the  she!i  bark 
hickory  or  walnuts,  sometimes  to  the  amount  of  an  hun- 
dred bushels  to  a  family.  They  pound  them  to  pieces, 
and  then  cast  them  into  boiling  water  ;  which,  after  pass- 
ing through  fine  strainers,  preserves  the  most  oily  part 
of  the  liquid  :  this  they  call  by  a  name  which  signifies 
hickory  milk.  It  is  as  sweet  and  rich  as  fresh  cream, 
and  is  an  ingredient  in  most  of  their  cookery,  especially 
homony  and  corn  cakes. 

WAR  BELTS.  The  Indian  war  belts  are  mostly 
black  wampum,  painted  red.  They  also  use  for  the 
purpose  of  notifying  war.  a  number  of  sticks,  about  six 
inches  long,  very  slender,  and  painted  red.  These  belts 
and  sticks  they  send  from  tribe  to  tribe,  as  a  declaration 
of  hostilities.  Likewise  an  axe,  or  hatchet,  painted  on 
the  belt,  always  imports  war  ;  the  taking  it  up.  being  a 
declaration  of  war  ;  and  the  burying  it  a  token  of  peace, 
•—/Sir  Win.  Johnson. 

WATER,  a  substance  that  was  believed  by  the  an- 
cients to  be  one  of  the  four  elements  of  which  every 
other  body  is  composed.  The  opinion  that  it  is  a  simple 
substance  seems  generally  to  have  prevailed  until  the 
year  1781,  when  Mr.  Henry  Cavendish,  of  Great  Bri- 
tain, discovered  by  several  experiments,  that  it  is  a  com- 
pound, and  formed  by  the  union  of  oxygen  and  hydrogen. 
Subsequent  experiments  have  fully  confirmed  this  theo- 
ry ;  insomuch  that,  during  the  last  fifteen  or  twenty 
years,  the  composition  of  water  has  been  generally  con- 
sidered as  one  of  the  best  established  facts  in  chymistry. 


WATER  CHESNUT— -WATER  FOWLS.    399 

• 

It  has  been  decomposed  and  recomposed,  and  found  to  con- 
sist of  eighty -five  parts,  by  weight,  of  oxygen^  and  fifteen 
of  hydrogen.  Since  it  has  been  found  that  water  is  not 
a  simple  element,  but  a  compound^  and  capable  of  being 
decomposed,  much  light  has  been  thrown  upon  many 
operations  of  nature,  which  formerly  were  wrapped  up 
in  obscurity,  in  vegetation,  for  instance,  it  has  been 
rendered  extremely  probable,  that  water  acts  a  much 
more  important  part  than  was  formerly  assigned  to  it 
by  philosophers  :  that  it  serves  not  merely  as  {he  vehicle 
of  nourishment,  but  constitutes  at  least  one  part,  and 
probably  an  essential  part,  of  the  food  of  plants  ;  that  it 
is  decomposed  by  them,  and  contributes  materially  to 
their  growth  5  and  that  manures  serve  rather  to  pre- 
pare the  water  for  decomposition,  than  to  form  of  them- 
selves, substantially  and  directly ',  the  nourishment  of  the 
vegetables.-— Miller,  Rumford.  When  persons  have 
overloaded  their  stomachs  with  food,  artificial  liquors, 
whether  distilled  or  fermented,  increase  the  load  ;  be- 
cause they  must  themselves  undergo  a  process  of  di- 
gestion, or  decomposition.  Whereas  water,  and  that 
liquid  only,  gives  the  digestive  faculties  no  labor,  and 
even  assists  them  in  digesting  other  substances. 

WATER  CHESNUT,  an  aquatic  plant  of  China. 
The  Chinese  cultivate  even  the  bottom  of  their  waters  ; 
and  the  beds  of  their  lakes,  ponds,  and  rivulets,  produce 
crops  that  to  us  are  unknown.  Their  industry  has  found 
out  resources  in  a  number  of  aquatic  plants,  among 
which  the  pitsi  or  water  chesnut,  is  one  of  the  greatest 
delicacies  of  a  Chinese  table.  The  government  has 
caused  this  plant  to  be  cultivated  in  all  the  lakes,  marsh- 
es, and  waste  grounds,  covered  with  water,  which  be- 
long to  the  state.  And  the  emperor  has  ordered  all  the 
lands  which  ornament  his  gardens,  to  be  planted  with  it, 
and  the  greater  part  of  the  ditches  round  his  palace  are 
full  of  it :  the  flowers  and  verdure  of  this  plant  cover 
those  two  vast  sheets  of  water  in  the  centre  of  Pekin, 
which  are  adjacent  to  the  gardens  of  the  imperial  pal- 
ace.— Winterbotkam. 

WATER  FOWLS,  a  class  of  fowls  which  are  sur- 
prizingly  conformable  in  the  structure  of  their  bodies^ 


400  WATER  SPOUT. 

• 

to  their  destination  and  manner  of  life.  It  must  be  ob- 
vious to  every  observer,  that  Providence  has  given  these 
a  different  formation  from  that  of  the  land  fowls;  as 
their  legs  and  feet  are  formed  for  the  purposes  of  wad- 
ing in  water,  or  swimming  on  its  surface.  In  those  that 
wade,  the  legs  are  usually  long  and  naked  ;  in  those 
that  swim,  the  toes  are  webbed  together,  as  we  see  irt 
the  feet  of  a  goose,  which  serve  like  oars,  to  drive  them 
forward  with  great  velocity. — Goldsmith. 

WATER  SPOUT,  a  column  of  water  either  rapidly 
ascending  from  the  sea  into  an  overshadowing  cloud,  or 
breaking  and  falling  down  from  the  cloud.  Water 
spouts  are  said  to  be  accompanied  with  the  following 
appearances.  First,  there  is  a  previous  calm,  or  if  the 
air  is  in  motion,  it  is  not  uncommon  for  ships  to  sail 
within  hail  of  each  other,  with  different  winds.  Second- 
ly, there  is  a  black  cloud  above,  from  which  there  goes 
a  compact  visible  vapor,  in  some  instances,  of  the  shape 
and  proportion  of  a  speaking-trumpet ;  the  small  end 
bt'ing  downwards  and  reaching  the  sea,  and  the  large 
end  terminated  in  a  cloud:  in  other  instances  they  are 
described  as  having  the  appearance  of  a  sword  pointing 
downwards,  sometimes  perpendicularly,  towards  a  col- 
umn of  water  or  froth,  which  seems  to  rise  out  of  the 
sea  to  meet  it,  attended  with  a  violent  ebullition  or  per- 
turbation at  the  surface.  Thirdly,  there  is  a  gyrating 
or  whirling  appearance  in  the  large  spouts  ;  the  fluid 
seeming  to  be  carried  swiftly  round  like  leaves  in  a 
whirlwind.  We  are  informed  in  a  Magazine,  that,  on 
the  26th  of  September,  1806,  Captain  Sendry,  in  a  three- 
masted  schooner,  between  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi 
and  the  island  of  Cuba,  perceived  the  whole  canopy  of 
heaven  to  exhibit  a  frightful  appearance,  he  then  lying 
becalmed  ;  that  presently  there  was  seen  the  appear- 
ance of  an  eye,  of  a  large  dimension,  out  of  which  came 
a  water  spout  which  immediately  made  an  abundant 
discharge,  about  one  league  from  the  vessel ;  that  he 
perceived  with  consternation,  that  the  continuing  spout 
attracted  his  vessel  towards  it,  to  the  length  of  half  a 
league  in  the  space  of  six  minutes  ;  and  that  the  provi- 
dential occurrence  of  a  sudden  shift  of  wind  attended 
with  a  violent  gale,  prevented  his  being  drawn  to  in- 
evitable destruction  within  its  vortex, 


WATER  WYTHE— WAX  TREE-^WEEK.    401 

WATER  WYTHE,  a  native  plant  of  Jamaica.  It 
has  a  trunk  as  thick  as  a  man's  leg,  and  in  most  respects 
resembles  a  common  vine.  But  what  renders  it  par- 
ticularly worthy  of  notice,  is,  that,  growing  on  dry  hills, 
in  the  woods  where  no  water  is  to  be  found,  its  trunk,  if 
cut  in  pieces  two  or  three  yards  long,  and  held  by  either 
end  to  the  mouth,  affords  so  plentiful  a  limpid  inno- 
cent water,  or  sap,  as  greatly  refreshes  the  thirsty  hun- 
ter or  traveller. 

WAX  TREE,  a  beautiful  ever-green  shrub,  growing 
in  wet  sandy  ground  about  the  edges  of  swamps,  in  the 
Floridas.  It  rises  erect  nine  or  ten  feet,  dividing  itself 
into  a  multitude  of  nearly  erect  branches,  which  are 
adorned  with  many  deep  green  leaves.  The  branches 
produce  abundance  of  large  round  berries,  nearly  the 
size  of  bird  cherries,  which  are  covered  with  a  coat  of 
white  wax.  It  is  in  high  estimation  with  the  inhabi- 
tants for  the  production  of  wax  candles,  for  which  pur- 
pose it  answers  equally  well  with  bees  wax,  or  pre- 
ferable, as  it  is  harder,  and  more  lasting  in  burning.—' 
Bartram. 

WEEK,  a  division  of  time  consisting  of  seven  days. 
As  this  division  of  time  had  its  origin  from  the  positive 
command  of  God ;  so  it  has  been  known  and  observed 
by  those  only  who  have  been  acoAuainted  with  divine 
revelation.  Besides  the  incalculable  moral  and  religious 
advantages  resulting  from  a  dedication  of  the  seventh 
part  of  time  as  a  Sabbatical  rest,  it  is  of  no  small  impor- 
tance that  this  wise  and  benevolent  institution  has  miti- 
gated the  rigor  and  eased  the  burden  of  slavery.  The 
slaves  of  the  ancient  pagan  nations,  for  instance,  the 
Egyptians,  Greeks  and  Romans,  had  no  sabbath,  no  sev- 
enth day  of  rest.  "  The  whole  week,  the  whole  year, 
was,  in  general,  with  but  few  exceptions,  one  uninter- 
rupted round  of  labor  and  oppression."  But,  among 
the  Israelites  of  old,  arid  among  Christian  nations  since, 
the  divine  prohibition  of  labor  on  the  sabbath,  a  prohi- 
bition that  mercifully  names  in  particular  the  man-ser- 
vant, and  the  maid-servant,  has  brought  no  inconsidera- 
ble relief,  even  in  a  temporal  point  ot  view,  to  this 
wretched  class  of  people.  The  French  government,  in 
K  k  2 


402  WEREGILD— WEST-INDIES. 

16855  enacted  laws  which  obliged  every  planter  in  their 
West-India  islands,  to  have  his  negroes  properly  in- 
structed in  the  doctrines  and  duties  of  Christianity  ;  and 
allowed  the  slaves  for  these  purposes,  and  for  days  of 
rest,  not  only  every  Sunday ,  but  every  festival  usually 
observed  by  the  Romish  Church.  And  it  is  said  that  a 
similar  regulation  was  made  by  the  Spanish  government, 
a  long  time  ago  ;  and  that  obedience  has  been  paid  to  it, 
particularly  in  the  Havanna.  It  had  been  well  if  protest- 
ant  nations  had  always  treated  their  slaves  in  a  manner 
correspondent  with  these  examples. 

WEREGILD,  the  statute  price  of  heads,  establish- 
ed by  the  laws  of  the  Saxons  in  England.  The  price 
of  the  king's  head,  or  the  Were^ild,  as  it  was  then  call- 
ed, which  the  man  must  pay  that  should  murder  him, 
was  near  thirteen  hundred  pounds  of  the  present  ster- 
ling money.  The  price  of  a  bishop's  or  alderman's  head 
was  rather  more,  than  a  fourth  ;  that  of  a  sheriff's  a  lit- 
tle more  than  an  eighth;  and  that  of  a  common  clergy- 
man's only  the  fifteenth  part  of  the  aforementioned  sum. 
The  price"  of  the  head  of  a  ceorle,  or  vassal,  was  two 
hundred  shillings.  The  price  of  all  kinds  of  wounds 
\vas  likewise  fixed  by  the  Saxon  laws  ;  a  wound  of  an 
inch  long  under  the  hair,  was  paid  with  one  shilling; 
one  of  the  like  size  in  the  face  two  shillings ;  thirty 
shillings  for  the  loss  of  an  ear. — Hume.  See  ERIC. 

WEST-INDIES,  a  number  of  islands  of  the  Ameri- 
can sea,  stretching  almost  from  the  coast  of  Florida 
North,  to  that  of  the  mouth  of  the  river  Oronoko,  in 
South  America.  Columbus  had  formed  the  project  of 
sailing  to  the  East-Indies  by  the  westward.  According- 
ly when  he  discovered  these  islands,  he  entertained  no 
doubt  but  that  they  were  nigh  the  East-Indian  territories. 
In  consequence  of  this  mistake  of  Columbus,  he  called 
these  islands  the  Indies  ;  which  name  has  stuck  to  those 
•. tries  ever  since  :  and  when  it  was  at  last  discover- 
:at  the  new  were  altogether  different  from  the  old 
Indies,  the  former  were  called  the  West,  in  contradis- 
tinction to  the  latter,  which  were  called  the  /fosi-lndies. 
From  the  same  mistake  of  Columbus,  the  natives  of  the 
American  continent  were  called  Indians ;  as  he  con- 


WHALE— WHEAT— WHITE  MOUNTAINS.   403 

ceived  them  at  first  to  be  the  same  people  with  those  of 
Hindostan. — •#.  Smith. 

WHALE,  the  largest  animal  of  the  deep;  unless 
we  except  the  Krajcen,  whose  existence  is  perhaps 
doubtful.  The  head  of  the  whale  is  equal  to  one  third 
of  its  length  ;  in  the  middle  are  two  orifices,  through 
which  it  spouts  water  to  a  considerable  height ;  and 
towards  the  back,  there  are  two  small  eyes,  protected 
by  eye-lashes,  like  those  in  quadrupeds .;  the  tail  has 
the  form  of  a  crescent.  The  farnale  produces  one.  or 
not  exceeding  two  young  whales  at  a  time,  which  she 
suckles.  The  following  are  the  names  of  the  various 
species  of  whales.  The  River  St.  Lawrence  whale; 
the  Greenland  ditto.  The  right  whale,  or  seven  feet 
bone,  about  sixty  feet  long.  The  spermaceti  ichale  ;  the 
longest  are  sixty  feet,  and  yield  about  a  hundred  bar- 
rels of  oil.  The  hump-backs,  on  the  coasts  of  New- 
foundland, are  from  twenty  to  forty  feet  in  length.  The 
fin-back,  an  American  whale,  is  rarely  or  never  killed, 
as  being  too  swift.  The  sulphur -bottom,  ninety  feet 
long  ;  they  are  seldom  killed,  as  being  extremely 
swift.  The  grampus*  thirty  feet  long,  never  killed  on 
the  same  account.  The  thrasher,  about  thirty  feet; 
they  often  kill  the  other  whales,  with  which  they  are  at 
perpetual  war.  The  black -fish  ivhale,  twenty  feet  5 
yields  from  eight  to  ten  barrels. — Willich,  St.  John. 

WHEAT,  the  finest  and  most  delicate  of  all  bread- 
grains.  It  is  said  to  be  a  native  of  the  island  of  Sicily, 
where  it  grew  spontaneously,  or  without  culture. — • 
Among  the  varieties  of  this  excellent  grain,  the  red 
straw  wheat  holds  a  distinguished  rank.  Its  excellence 
consists  in  repelling  the  fly,  and  suiting  the  most  indif- 
ferent soils  better  than  the  generality  of  wheat.  Its 
produce  likewise  is  abundant.  This  wheat  was  first 
cultivated  in  this  country  on  the  Mount  Vernon  estate, 
from  seed  that  was  sent  over  to  General  Washington. 

WHITE  MOUNTAINS,  famous  mountains  of 
New-Hampshire  ;  being  the  highest  part  of  a  ridge, 
which  extends  north-east  and  south-west  to  an  un- 
known length.  They  are  the  highest  lands  in  New- 


404  WILD  ASS— WILD  BOAR. 

England,  and  are  discovered  in  clear  weather  by  ves- 
sels coming  on  the  eastern  coast,  before  any  other  land  ; 
but  by  reason  of  their  bright  appearance,  are  frequently 
mistaken  for  clouds.  They  are  seen  on  shore,  at  the 
distance  of  sixty  or  eighty  miles,  on  the  south  arid 
soii-h-east  sides,  and  are  said  to  be  plainly  visible  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Quebec.  Generally  these  mountains 
begin  to  be  covered  with  snow  and  ice,  either  in  the 
latter  part  of  September,  or  the  beginning  of  October, 
and  it  never  wholly  leaves  them  till  July.  During  this 
period  of  nine  or  ten  months,  they  exhibit  more  or  less 
of  that  bright  appearance,  from  which  they  are  denomi- 
nated White.  May  we  not  ascribe  the  piercing  cold  of 
our  north-west  winds  to  the  vast  ranges  of  frozen 
mountains  rather  tban  to  the  lakes  and  forests  ? — 
Bielknap, 

WILD  ASS.  These  animals  are  found  in  great 
numbers  in  the  desarts  of  Lybia  and  Numidia,  and  in 
the  islands  of  the  Archipelago  :  they  run  with  such 
amazing  swiftness,  that  scarce  even  the  swiftest  horses 
of  the  country  can  overtake  them.  When  they  see  a 
man,  they  set  up  a  horrid  braying,  and  stop  short  alto- 
gether, till  he  approaches  near  them  ;  they  then,  as  if 
by  common  consent,  fly  off  with  great  speed  ;  and  it  is 
upon  such  occasions  that  they  generally  fall  into  the 
traps  which  are  previously  prepared  to  catch  them. 
They  have  all  the  swiftness  of  horses,  and  neither 
declivities  nor  precipices  stop  their  career.  When 
attacked,  they  defend  themselves  with  their  heels  and 
mouth  with  such  activity,  that  without  slacking  their 
pace,  they  often  maim  their  pursuers.  If  a  horse 
happens  to  stray  into  the  place  where  they  graze,  they 
all  fall  upon  him  5  and  without  giving  him  the  liberty 
of  flying,  they  bite  and  kick  him  till  they  have  left  him 
dead  upon  the  spot.  Such  is  this  animal  in  its  natural 
state,  swift,  fierce,  and  formidable  ;  but  in  a  state  of 
tameness,  the  ass  is  the  most  gentle  and  quiet  of  all 
animals  :  he  entirely  loses  his  ferocity,  and  becomes 
patient,  dull,  and  stupid. — Goldsmith. 

WILD  BOAR,  a  ferocious  and  formidable  animal  of 
the  forest.  He  is  always  found  of  an  iron-grey,  incliir* 


WILD  GOOSE.  405 

>ng  to  black :  his  snout  is  much  longer  than  that  of  the 
tame  hog  5  his  tusks  also  are  larger,  some  of  them  be- 
ing seen  almost  a  foot  long.  When  he  is  come  to  a 
state  of  maturity,  he  walks  the  forest  fearless,  dreading 
no  single  creature.  He  does  not  seek  the  lion  to  attack, 
but  will  not  fly  at  his  approach.  We  are  told  of  a  com- 
bat of  a  lion  and  a  wild  boar,  in  a  meadow  near  Algiers, 
which  continued  for  a  long  time  with  surprizing  obsti- 
nacy. At  last,  both  were  seen  to  fall  by  the  wounds 
they  had  given  each  other;  and  the  ground  all  about 
them  was  covered  with  their  blood.  When  this  crea- 
ture aims  at  the  hunter  nothing  will  avail  but  courage 
and  agility  ;  if  the  hunter  flies  for  it,  he  is  surely  over- 
taken ami  killed.  If  the  boar  comes  straight  up,  he  is 
to  be  received  at  the  point  of  the  spear  5  but  if  he 
makes  doubles  and  windings,  he  is  to  be  watched  very 
cautiously,  for  he  will  attempt  getting  hold  of  the 
spear  in  his  mouth  :  and  if  he  does  so,  nothing  can 
save  the  huntsman  but  another  person  attacking  him 
behind.— Goldsmith,  Encyclopaedia. 

WILD  GOOSE,  a  bird  of  passage.  «  From  the 
beginning  of  April  to  the  middle  of  November,  this 
fowl  resides  chiefly  in  the  northern  and  north-easterly 
parts  of  America.  In  those  parts  they  produce  their 
young,  and  are  to  be  found  in  the  rivers  and  harbors,  in 
immense  numbers.  In  November  they  come  in  large 
flocks  from  the  north  and  north-east,  and  pass  oft"  ta 
the  south-west.  In  March  and  April,  they  return  from 
the  south-west,  in  a  contrary  direction,  and  go  back  to 
their  summer  habitation.  '  These  flocks  frequently  con- 
sist of  fifty  or  sixty ;  they  fly  at  a  great  height,  and 
appear  to  observe  great  regularity  in  their  passage. 
They  sometimes  follow  one  another  in  a  straight  line,  but 
are  more  generally  drawn  up  in  the  form  of  a  wedge, 
and  appear  to  be  led  by  one  of  the  strongest  and  most 
active  ;  and  while  they  keep  together  they  seem  to 
understand  their  course  perfectly  well."  The  goose, 
though  a  despised  animal,  is  to  a  high  degree  necessa- 
ry, both  for  carrying  on  business  by  day,  and  for  com- 
fortable repose  at  night.  So  useful  are  the  quillx  n;id 
feathers  of  this  creature,  that,  if  all  the  Other  feathered 
tribes  were  struck  out  of  existence,  it  would  not,  per-1 


406  WILD  HORSE— WILD  MEN. 

haps,  be  so  great  a  loss  to  the  civilized  world,  as  the 
loss  of  the  goose  alone. 

WILD  HORSE.  In  the  boundless  plains  of  .Tarta- 
ry  and  Arabia,  wild  horses  are  often  seen  feeding  in 
droves  of  five  or  six  hundred.  Whenever  they  sleep  in 
the  forests  they  have  always  one  among  their  number 
that  stands  as  sentinel  to  give  notice  of  any  approaching 
clanger ;  and  this  office  they  take  by  turns.  If  a  man 
approaches  them  while  they  are  feeding  by  day,  their 
sentinel  walks  up  boldly  near  him,  as  if  to  examine  his 
strength,  or  to  intimidate  him  from  proceeding  ;  but,  if 
the  man  approaches  within  pistol  shot,  the  sentinel 
then  thinks  it  high  time  to  alarm  his  followers  :  this  he 
does  by  a  loud  kind  of  snorting;  upon  which  they  all 
take  the  signal,  and  fly  oft' with  the  speed  of  the  wind  ; 
their  faithful  sentinel  bringing  up  the  rear.  As  they  go 
together,  they  will  not  admit  any  strange  animals 
among  them,  though  even  of  their  own  kind.  When- 
ever they  find  a  tame  horse  attempting  to  associate 
with  them,  they  instantly  gather  round  him,  and  soon 
oblige  him  to  seek  safety  by  flight. — Goldsmith. 

WILD  MEN,  human  creatures  left  in  childhood 
among  wild  beasts,  and  brought  up  with  them.  There 
have  frequently  been  found  in  the  woods  of  Poland  and 
Germany,  wild  men,  who  went  generally  upon  all  fours 
though  sometimes  they  stood  upright.  They  had  not 
the  use  of  speech  at  first,  but  were  taught  to  speak 
when  brought  into  towns  and  used  kindly;  retaining 
thereafter  no  memory  of  their  former  savage  lives. 
The  frequent  incursions  of  the  Tartars  and  other  savage 
nations,  who  often  bore  oft'  whole  villages  of  people 
into  slavery,  probably  forced  the  women  to  carry  their 
children  into  the  woods  for  safety,  and,  in  case  of  fur- 
ther pursuit,  to  leave  them  behind  ;  for  they  are  often 
found  among  bears  and  other  wild  beasts,  by  which 
they  are  nourished,  and  taught  to  feed  like  them. — - 
Jlforse.  In  these  wretched  objects  there  is  seen  what 
man  is  when  entirely  destitute  of  education.  Savages 
who  live  in  society  among  themselves,  have  always 
so. m-.  degree  of  education,  as  they  learn  much  from 
one  another  and  from  the  experience  of  their  ancestors  : 


WILD  PINE— WILLOW.  407 

-and  the  most  ignorant  tribes  of  such  savages  are,  per- 
haps, as  much  superior  in  knowledge  to  the  wild  man, 
as  they  are  inferior  to  the  most  learned  and  polished 
nations. 

WILD  PINE,  a  native  plant  of  Jamaica ;  which  is 
so  contrived  by  the  Author  of  Nature,  as  to  be  of  the 
utmost  use  to  the  inhabitants  of  that  hot  climate,  where 
there  is  frequently  a  scarcity  of  water.  The  wild  pine 
is  a  plant  so  called,  because  it  somewhat  resembles  the 
bush  that  bears  the  pine-apple.  They  are  commonly 
supported  or  grow  from  some  bunch,  knot,  or  excres- 
ence  of  a  tree,  where  they  take  root  and  grow  upright. 
Tiie  root  is  short  and  thick,  whence  the  leaves  rise  up 
in  folds,  one  within  another,  spreading  oil*  to  the  top. 
They  are  of  a  good  thick  substance,  ten  or  twelve 
inches  long.  The  outside  leaves  are  so  compact,  as  to 
contain  the  rain  water  as  it  falls  5  they  will  contain  a 
pint  and  a  half  and  sometimes  a  quart.  The  thirsty 
traveller  sticks  his  knife  into  the  leaves,  just  above  the 
root ;  and  this  lets  out  the  water,  which  he  catches  in 
his  ha,t.~~Dampier. 

WILLOW,  a  genus  of  trees  comprising  forty-two 
species.  The  Sallow  Willow  has  a  soft,  white  and 
smooth  wood,  and  furnishes  shoe-makers  with  cutting 
and  whetting -boards,  on  which  they  cut  leather,  and 
sharpen  the  edges  of  their  knives.  The  shoots  of  the 
Golden-Yellow -Willow  are  used  by  cradle  and  basket- 
makers  :  the  wood  surrounding  its  seed  vessels,  when 
mixed  with  cotton,  affords  excellent  yarn  for  various 
manufacturing  purposes.  From  the  great  ease  of  pro- 
pagation and  rapid  growth  of  the  yellow  willow,  it  may 
be  made  a  cheap  fence,  by  setting  the  slips  very  close, 
in  double  or  even  treble  rows.  These  may  be  taken 
from  even  the  smallest  branches,  as  well  as  from  the 
largest  :  all  will  grow,  and  may  be  set  at  any  time  of 
the  year.  When  at  a  sufficient  height,  they  should  be 
cut  oft',  lest  they  blow  up  by  the  roots.  In  some  parts 
of  Germany,  many  of  the  inhabitants  are  supplied  with 
fuel  entirely  from  the  branches  and  tops  taken  off  their 
willow  hedge-trees. — Dom.  Encyclopaedia,  American 
Museum. 


408    WIND— WINTER'S  CINNAMON— WIRE, 

WIND,  a  sensible  agitation  of  the  atmosphere,  oc- 
casioned by  a  quantity  of  air  flowing  from  one  place  to 
another.  Monsoons,  or  trade  winds  blow  six  months  in 
one  direction,  and  six  months  in  the  opposite,  the 
changes  happening  about  the  time  of  the  equinoxes.  In 
all  maritime  countries  between  the  tropics,  the  wind 
blows  during  a  certain  number  of  hours  every  day 
fnnn  the  sea,  and  during  a  certain  number  toivards  the 
sea  from  the  land  ;  these  winds  are  called  the  sea  and 
land  breezes.  Tiie  sea  breeze  generally  sets  in  about 
ten  in  the  forenoon,  and  blows  till  six  in  the  evening ; 
at  seven  the  laad  breeze  begins,  and  continues  till 
ei<?ht  in  the  morning  when  it  dies  away.  Dr.  Williams 
remarks,  that  the  winds  in  North  America  receive  their 
gen-viral  direction  from  the  situation  of  the  sea  coasts, 
mountain  ,  and  rivers.  These  are  very  much  from  the 
south -west  to  the  north-east.  The  most  prevalent 
of  our  winds  are  either  parallel  with,  or  perpendicular 
to  this  course ;  or  rather,  they  are  from  the  north-east, 
south-west,  and  north-west. 

WINTER'S  CINNAMON,  or  Wintera  Aromatica, 
one  of  the  largest  forest  trees  in  Terra  del  Fuego.  Ac- 
cording to  Dr.  Solander,  it  often  rises  to  the  height  of 
fifty  feet :  the  branches  are  bent  upward,  and  form  an 
elegant  head  of  an  oval  shape.  The  leaves  are  from 
three  to  four  inches  long,  and  between  one  and  two 
broad  ;  they  are  smooth  and  shining,  of  a  thick  leathery 
substance,  arid  evergreen.  The  bark  of  this  tree  is 
from  a  quarter  to  three  quarters  of  an  inch  thick  ;  it  is 
of  a  dark  brown  cinnamon  colour,  an  aromatic  smell, 
and  a  pungent  hot  spicy  taste  :  it  has  been  much  cele- 
brated as  an  antiscorbutic.  As  the  climate  of  Terra 
del  Fuego  is  very  cold,  it  being  above  the  fifty -sixth 
degree  of  south  latitude  ;  so  it  has  been  thought  that 
this  valuable  tree  might  be  made  to  grow  in  cold  north- 
ern climates. 

WIRE,  a  piece  of  metal  drawn  through  the  hole  of 
an  iron  into  a  thread  of  a  fineness  answerable  to  the 
hole  it  passes  through.  Gold-wire  is  made  of  cylin- 
drical ingots  of  silver,  covered  over  with  a  skin  of  gold, 
and  thus  drawn  successively  through  a  vast  number  of 


WOLF— WOODEN  COLLAR.     409 

holes,  each  smaller  and  smaller,  till  at  last  it  is  brought 
to  a  fineness  exceeding  that  of  a  hair.  A  cylinder  o 
forty-eight  ounces  of  silver,  covered  with  a  coat  of  gold, 
only  weighing  one  ounce,  as  Dr.  Hally  informs  us,  is 
usually  drawn  into  a  wire,  two  yards  of  which  weigh 
no  more  than  one  grain  :  accordingly  ninety-eight 
yards  of  the  wire  weigh  no  more  than  forty-nine 
grains,  and  one  single  grain  of  gold  covers  the  ninety- 
eight  yards  ;  so  that  the  ten  thousandth  part  of  a 
grain  is  above  an  eighth  of  one  inch  long. — British 
Encyclopaedia. 

WOLF,  an  animal  of  the  dog  kind  ;  some  naturalists 
think  it  to  be  a  real  species  of  dog  in  the  wild  state. 
The  wolf  has  great  strength,  especially  in  his  muscles 
and  jaws  :  he  can  carry  a  sheep  in  his  mouth,  and 
easily  run  off  with  it  in  that  manner.  His  bite  is  cruel 
and  deadly,  and  keener  as  it  meets  with  resistance  ; 
but  when  opposed,  he  is  cautious  and  circumspect,  and 
seldom  fights  but  from  necessity.  He  almost  inces- 
santly prowls  about  for  prey,  and  of  all  animals,  is  the 
most  difficult  to  conquer  in  the~  chase  ;  bat  vvrhen  he 
finds  there  is  no  probability  of  escaping,  he  is  so  stupi- 
fied  with  fear,  that  he  may  be  killed  without  offering  to 
resist.  In  Europe  sometimes  whole  droves  of  wolves 
join  in  the  cruel  work  of  general  devastation,  roam  , 
through  the  villages,  and  attack  the  sheep -folds.  They 
dig  the  earth  under  the  doors,  enter  with  dreadful  fe- 
rocity, and  put  every  living  creature  to  death  before 
they  depart.  Even  man  himself,  upon  these  occasions, 
frequently  falls  a  victim  to  their  rapacity  ;  and  it  is  said, 
that  when  once  they  have  tasted  human  blood,  they  al- 
ways give  it  the  preference.  They  have  been  known 
to  follow  armies,  and  assemble  in  troops  upon  the  field 
of  battle ;  tear  up  such  bodies  as  have  been  carelessly 
interred,  and  devour  them  with  insatiable  avidity.  The 
colour  of  the  American  wolf  is  a  dirty  grey,  with 
some  tinges  of  yellow  about  his  ears  and  legs.  There 
is  nothing  valuable  in  these  animals  but  their  skins, 
which  afford  a  warm  and  durable  fur. — Magazine,  Wil- 
liams. 

WOODEN   COLLAR,  an  instrument  of  punish- 
L  \ 


410  WOODPECKER— ZABIANS. 

inent  in  China.  It  is  composed  of  two  pieces  of  wood 
hollowed  out  in  the  middle,  which,  when  put  together, 
have  sufficient  room  for  the  neck  of  a  person.  They 
are  laid  upon  the  shoulders  of  the  offender,  and  joined 
together  in  such  a  manner  as  to  prevent  his  seeing  his 
feet,  or  putting  his  hands  to  his  mouth.  He  is  thus 
rendered  incapable  of  eating  without  the  assistance  of 
another,  and  is  obliged  to  carry  his  burden  night  and 
day.  Its  weight  is  from  fifty  to  two  hundred  pounds, 
regulated  according  to  the  nature  of  the  crime.-— 
Winterbotham. 

WOODPECKER,  a  bird  that  seeks  its  prey  in  rotten 
wood.  It  is  furnished  with  a  very  long  and  voluble 
tongue  ;  and  is  endowed  with  a  singular  instinct.  It 
Icnows  how  to  procure  food  without  seeing  its  prey.  It 
attaches  itself  to  the  trunk  or  branches  of  a  decayed 
tree  :  and  whenever  it  perceives  a  hole  or  crevice,  it 
darts  in  its  long  tongue,  and  brings  it  out  loaded  with 
insects  of  various  kinds  ;  at  the  same  time  making  a 
loud  shout  of  triumph.  The  green  woodpecker  (for 
there  are  several  species)  feeds  entirely  on  insects  ; 
and  is  said  to  occasion  great  havoc  among  the  bees  in 
the  winter  season.  After  having  sufficiently  excavated 
an  unsound  tree,  the  female  deposits  five  or  six  white 
eggs  5  and  the  young  brood  are  taught  to  ascend  and 
descend  trees,  before  they  are  able  to  fly. — Smellie9 
Willich. 


Z. 


Chaldeans,  or  Babylonians,  who  laid  the 
foundation  of  polytheism  and  idolatry,  by  adding  to  the 
\vorship  of  the  one  infinite  God,  a  secondary  worship  of 
the  heavenly  bodies,  which  they  regarded  as  his  minis- 
ters, and  adored  as  mediators  between  him  and  sinful 
men  ;  considering  these  glorious  orbs  as  the  habitations 
of  Genii,  or  spiritual  intelligences.  This  refined  kind 
of  idolatry  which  begun  in  Chaldea,  spread  over  Asia, 
Africa,  and  Europe  $  and  gradually  became  more  and 


ZEALAND,  NEW— ZEBRA— ZINC.        411 

more  gross  and  sensual,  till  it  plunged  the  world  into 
the  deepest  ignorance  and  corruption.  From  worship- 
ping the  heavenly  bodies,  they  proceeded  to  the  worship 
of  animals  and  images  as  the  representatives  of  these 
celestial  orbs;  until  at  last,  instead  of  the  true  God,  grav- 
en images,  brutes,  and  even  serpents  were  adored.  Za- 
bianism  had  commenced  in  the  land  of  Chaldea,  when 
the  patriarch  Abraham  left  it ;  but  it  had  not  then  spread 
into  Arabia,  Egypt,  and  Canaan. 

ZEALAND,  NEW,  two  large  islands  in  the  south 
Pacific  Ocean,  separated  from  each  other  by  a  narrow 
strait.  The  inhabitants  of  New  Zealand  seem  to  live 
under  continual  apprehensions  of  being  destroyed  by 
each  other.  They  never  give  quarter  or  take  prison- 
ers :  they  kill  every  one  of  the  vanquished  enemy  with- 
out distinction,  not  sparing  even  the  women  and  chil- 
dren ;  and  when  they  have  completed  the  inhuman  mas- 
sacre, they  either  gorge  themselves  on  the  spot,  or  car- 
ry off  as  many  dead  bodies  as  they  can,  and  feast  on 
them  at  home.  It  is  a  part  of  their  creed,  that  the  soul 
of  the  man  whose  flesh  is  devoured  by  his  enemies,  is 
condemned  to  an  incessant  fire;  while  the  soul  of  him 
whose  body  has  been  rescued  from  those  that  slew  him, 
as  well  as  the  souls  of  those  who  die  a  natural  death,  as- 
cends to  the  mansions  of  the  gods. — Cookers  Voyages. 

ZEBRA,  an  animal  of  the  horse  kind  ;  and  is  a  na- 
tive of  the  southern  parts  of  Africa.  This  creature  is 
rather  less  than  a  mule,  is  exceedingly  wild  and  amaz- 
ingly swift.  Its  shape  is  elegant ;  its  hair  fine  and 
smooth  ;  its  head,  its  neck,  and  its  whole  body  is  striped 
in  such  a  manner  as  to  resemble  a  garment  made  of  the 
finest  ribbands  ;  and  it  is  in  all  respects,  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  of  animals. 

ZINC,  a  semi-metal  of  a  whitish  colour,  nearly  re- 
sembling that  of  lead,  though  it  does  not  so  speedily. tar- 
nish. It  is  of  great  utility  in  the  arts.  Combined  with 
gold,  in  equal  portions,  it  forms  a  hard  white  compound, 
that  admits  a  fine  polish,  and  may  be  advantageously 
manufactured  into  specula,  for  optical  instruments.  Zinc 
and  tin,  melted  together,  produce  a  kind  of  pewter  5  and 


413  ZINC. 

as  the  former  spreads  more  uniformly,  while  it  is  much 
harder,  and  less  fusible  than  tin,  it  has  been  proposed 
as  a  substitute  for  the  latter,  in  tinning  copper  vessels. 
Zinc  and  copper  readily  unite  in  the  fire,  forming  a 
metal  distinguished  by  the  general  name  of  yellow  cop- 
per ;  but  which  is  divided  into  several  sorts,  according 
to  their  respective  proportions.  Thus,  three  parts  of 
copper  and  one  of  zinc,  constitute  brass  :  five  or  six  of 
the  former,  and  one  of  the  latter,  afford  pinchbeck.  Zinc 
is  found  in  England,  Hungary,  and  some  other  parts  of 
the  globe. — Dom.  Encyclopaedia. 


THE  END. 


